


The Wars of Legends - Pegasus War

by Dock872210



Series: The Wars of Legends [7]
Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003), Blood+ (Anime & Manga), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alternate Universe, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Dehumanization, Drama, F/F, F/M, Family, Friendship, Human as livestock, Romance, Set entirely in Stargateverse, Sibling Incest, Sister/Sister Incest, Space Battles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-11
Updated: 2019-11-08
Packaged: 2020-12-09 01:14:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 40
Words: 151,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20986382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dock872210/pseuds/Dock872210
Summary: [AU] With the Milky Way at peace with the defeat of the Replicators, the fall of Anubis, and the collapse of the Goa’uld Empire, the Coalition of Free Peoples has set its sights on the exploration of the Pegasus galaxy and the recovery of its treasure trove of Ancient treasures. This is the story of the Atlantis Expedition as it seeks the lost city and spreads the flame of freedom to a new galaxy. [Trigger warnings if applicable are at the top of each chapter]





	1. Arrival - Raising the Lost City

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of the IPs from which any imported elements may originate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Pegasus War**

**Chapter One: Arrival - Raising the Lost City**

**Beta: **

* * *

Lieutenant Terrence Tan, a clean shaven, fit young ethnically Chinese man with close cropped hair was a Singaporean engineer and reactivated reservist commando that had through great fortune found himself walking through the halls of the storied and now very cramped halls of the SGC (Stargate Command). All around him in the usually spacious tunnels that made up the base were members of the Atlantis Expedition, hand picked personnel selected by the Expedition's leader, Dr. Elizabeth Weir, from across the Coalition to be part of a daring exploration of the Pegasus galaxy. Not all of them were here, some would follow up this Gate insertion in the Expedition's attached fleet but even as he traversed the hallways he could already see people from not just Earth's many nations, but also contingents from the Chiropteran Swarm, Albion, Jade and other Coalition members.

"Lt. Tan, you're all suited up and ready to go?" His superior officer, Colonel Marshall Sumner of the United States Marine Corps, greeted him as he arrived and joined the small contingent of soldiers and scientists all sporting powered armor modified to operate in high pressure environments such as the bottom of an ocean.

"You have good timing," the Colonel said sarcastically. "We're almost ready to set off, just waiting for Dr. Weir to give the go ahead."

As if Colonel Sumner's words were her cue, this was exactly when Dr. Weir stepped up the ramp that led to the Stargate and turned to address the crowd of Expedition members gathered before the Gate.

"Can I have everyone's attention, please?" The woman said, immediately silencing the room as they all turned to give her their full attention. "All right, here we go. We're about to try to make a connection. As per what we've gleaned from Earth's Ancient Repository of Knowledge-"

_Which is why she, an Earthling, was leading the Expedition. _

There had in fact been plenty of jockeying for the honor but leveraging Earth's Repository with its most up to date information being the source of almost all relevant intel on the Pegasus galaxy that they were relying on for the Expedition and the fact that only the Earth gate could connect with the Pegasus via the _Atlantis _gate due the Ancients' failsafes, Earth had managed to put itself in charge of the operation. No mean feat when they'd been competing against the likes of superpowers like Albion and the Swarm for the role.

"-Atlantis on the other end will be under the ocean and either already flooded or close to it. As such, we'll establish a connection, send in the MALP robot probe to check the situation before sending in our carefully selected team of engineers to restore its power."

This caused some disgruntled muttering among some of the Expedition members who had failed to make the cut for the advance party. Terence himself had only barely made it on, only qualifying thanks to a combination of his admittedly rusty military training and his experience working as an engineer on his homeland's various offworld technology heavy projects. The combination of combat skill and familiarity with alien systems giving him enough of an edge to get onto the team.

"Once they're done," Dr. Weir continued. "They'll dial back and give us the all clear. At which point, we'll go through. Is that clear?"

There were nods from everyone and Dr. Weir smiled, before once more getting serious.

"Now, before we dial the Gate and begin the operation, I need to ask you one last question. Every one of you volunteered for this mission, and you represent many races and over dozens of countries. You are the Coalition's best and brightest. And in light of the adventure we are about to embark on and the enemies we're about to face in the Pegasus, you're also the bravest."

_Isn't that an understatement. _Terence thought to himself with an inward wince. _Those Wraith the Repository talked about sound scary as hell. And the hints that those Asuran replicator wannabes might be running around too sounds even worse._

"I hope we all return one day having discovered a whole new realm for our peoples to explore. But as all of you know, with the dangers ahead of us we may never be able to return home. So I'd like to offer you all one last chance to withdraw your participation."

No one responded. Everyone had come here already having made peace with their choice.

"Begin the dialing sequence." Weir declared with pride at her people, as she stepped down from the ramp to join the other expectant Expedition members even as the Stargate began to spin and one by one the chevrons locked into place.

It was a nerve-racking minute or so as the Earth's Stargate dialed the eight chevron address for the first time in recorded history and it was with a sigh of relief that the wormhole was successfully established. This was the first time they'd tried it, too afraid of what they might find on the other side to risk doing so before now.

"Deploying the MALP," a technician in the Operations Room looking down on the Gateroom said over the speakers as the robotic drone, heavily enhanced with technologies acquired from the Stargate program and donated by Earth's offworld allies, hovered up the ramp and through the event horizon.

"We have MALP telemetry." The technician declared a moment later.

"Sensors indicates…its intact. I repeat, _Atlantis _is intact!" Dr. Rodney McKay, the Expedition's Head of Technical Sciences declared, prompting a cheer that was quickly silenced as he continued. "Environmental sensors say there's oxygen, no measurable toxins. We have viable life support. Like we feared though the cityship's shields are near depletion."

_Thankfully we're prepared for that particular problem thanks to the helpful heads up we got from the Repository of Knowledge._

Dr. Weir looked up at the Ops Room at that and exchanged a look with General O'Neill, the Expedition's Earthside reporting officer. The famous general nodded and leaned down to a microphone to address her through the speakers.

"Dr. Weir, you have a go."

"Thank you, sir." Dr. Weir told the man with a grin, before turning to Terence and the rest of the advance party. "Ladies and gentlemen, it's up to you now."

"Leave it to us," Colonel Sumner declared confidently.

"Advance Party, go!" Weir declared.

With a nod, the Colonel led the team of engineers and scientists along with an escort of soldiers through the Gate. Dr. Rodney McKay rushing down from the Operations Room to join them, managing to step through the gate as the last man.

Together their bodies were deconstructed at an atomic level and stored as data that was transmitted through the wormhole across the vast gulf of space to the Pegasus galaxy where it was reconstructed in perfect detail as they 'stepped' through the other side and found themselves in the darkened halls of _Atlantis_' Gateroom.

"Alright," Dr. McKay declared after he finished the seemingly mandatory second or two gawking at their surroundings - everyone, even Colonel Sumner had been guilty of it - and regained his wits. "Those of you who are coming down to the power plant are with me. The others who're headed up to the Stargate Ops Room go with Drs. Gordin and Zelenka."

His words seemed to snap the last of the awestruck stragglers out of it and the team burst into action. Terence quickly joined the team headed down to the power plant with Dr. McKay at the lead, using schematics of the city they've acquired from the Repository to guide them.

* * *

It was quite a distance to the power plant, but one they covered in a relatively short time thanks to knowing the way and their powered armor. Less than fifteen minutes later they were thus already hastily setting up the series of Earth-built Neutrino-ion Generators, the technology with which to build them being a gift from the Asgard in exchange for access to their Repository, which they hoped would be sufficient to fully power the ancient vessel.

"Power levels are at 87%," Terence read off the tablet he'd plugged into the power plant's Ancient computers to serve as an interface as the eighth Generator was installed. "One more should do it."

"We brought too many?" One of the other scientists on the team, Dr. Simpson if Terence recalled correctly, opined with a little disbelief.

Terence could understand. Who would have thought that they'd managed to power the _Ancient's greatest achievement_ on what amounted to only a handful of Earth made generators. Sure, the Neutrino-ion Generators were insanely powerful but this was _Atlantis _they were talking about. It was still mind blowing!

"Better too much than too little. Besides, nine was exactly how many I said we'd need when we planned this mission, but no~ someone just had to contradict my math and say we needed twelve, so what we do? We lugged another four more spare generators than we needed along with us."

"McKay, stop whining." Major Sheppard, a United States Air Force officer and the Expedition's second in command of ground operations, told the neurotic scientist from where he was holding a defensive position at the power plant's door alongside the team of soldiers under his command.

"I'm not whining."

"Yes, you are." The Major said sternly. "Now get back to work."

"Fine," Dr. McKay said with an honest to god pout, before turning to the other scientists.

"Now, get to work setting up another one of those generators!" He snapped. "We need this city back at full power ASAP."

The other scientists hurried to obey, but not without a fair few of them sporting grins at their superior's childish antics. Terence was not too proud to admit that he was one of them,

"McKay," Major Sheppard said suddenly. "The team at the Ops Room are done locking down all non-essential systems. They're asking if they should surface the ship."

McKay blinked for a moment before he palmed his forehead. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"Some genius," one of the scientists that Terence was working next to muttered under his breath.

Thankfully McKay didn't hear him and instead turned to address Major Sheppard.

"Tell them to go ahead." McKay said with a nod. "That should save us some power, just in case"

Sheppard nodded and got back on his subspace radio to relay the news. Terence meanwhile got back to work helping his fellow scientists and engineers to install the ninth Neutrino-ion Generator.

* * *

Even as Terence and the rest of the team worked hard to restore full power to _Atlantis_, the rest of the Expedition waiting at Stargate Command back on Earth began streaming through the Gate having received the all clear from Colonel Sumner once they'd restored the City's power to a sustainable 60%.

Daniel Jackson was among them, walking through the event horizon hand in hand with his girlfriend Sarah Gardner.

As they come through, both archaeologists couldn't help but gasp in awe at the architecture. They couldn't help it. Not only was it beautiful but it was also so different from what they'd been used to from the Ancients back in the Milky Way. Instead of the monolithic stone construction of Ancients they were familiar with, it seemed that the Lanteans had favored a sleeker, more 'futuristic' aesthetic.

"It's to be expected I guess." Sarah mused. "They aren't called the Ancients for no reason. Their civilization _was _ancient. Its culture must have invariably changed and drifted over time.

Daniel nodded both in agreement at her observation and at the fact that they were thinking the same thing.

"I can't wait to see what caused this change," Daniel said, offering Sarah a smile.

"Doctor Jackson, Doctor Gardner, I think you two can gush and discuss research ideas later." Dr. Weir said addressing them with a chiding, amused smile. "But right now you two need to get off the Gate deck. You're blocking the way."

"We're sorry," the two sheepish archaeologists apologized as they moved out of the way allowing a Canadian combat engineer pushing a crate of supplies past them with an amused shake his head.

"The SGC says that's the last of the initial supplies, Dr. Weir." Colonel Sumner declared from the Stargate Ops Room that overlooked the Gateroom.

"Noted. Thank you, Colonel Sumner." Dr. Weir replied. "Give our thanks to General O'Neill and Stargate Command would you?"

"Yes, mam." The Colonel returned as he tapped his headset to send the message along.

He'd probably only managed a few words when a champagne bottle rolled through the wormhole just moments before the Stargate shut down.

"What?" Dr. Weir said, blinking in confusion.

"It's addressed to you, mam." A helpful marine serving as Gate security said as he handed the bottle to the Expedition's leader. "It's from General O'Neill."

"Good luck?" Dr. Weir said, still sounding confused as she read the attached note.

"That's Jack for you," Daniel said with a laugh at his friend's antics.

"Is he always like this?" Dr. Weir asked, turning to look at Daniel.

"Most of the time," Daniel admitted with a shrug, even as next to him Sarah nodded in agreement.

Dr. Weir sighed and shook her head in exasperation.

"Dr. Weir," Colonel Sumner said from the Ops Room. "We're got the okay to surface from Dr. McKay. Your orders?"

"Do it, Colonel."

"Surface?" Daniel asked curiously.

"Doctors Gardner, Jackson, you'll want to see this," Dr. Weir declared as she walked over to a large observation stained glass window at the top of a set of stairs leading up from the Gate to the Ops Room, gesturing for them to join her.

"What is it?" Daniel asked, even as the city shook and they obliged.

The three doctors, and the whole Expedition really, watched with bated breath as the gleaming towers and sturdy piers of the mighty cityship of _Atlantis _rose steadily through the water column.

"Wow!" Someone that Daniel didn't recognize gasped, giving voice to what everyone felt, as the lost city breached the surface.

Sunlight played across its beautiful architecture for the first time in thousands of years, illuminating the shining jewel of Alteran and Lantean civilization once more.

After eons of slumber at the bottom of the Lantean ocean, _Atlantis _had risen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done!
> 
> Here it is folks! The first chapter of the Pegasus chapter of the Wars of Legends verse. It won't feature the original series' main characters much. So if that's you're here looking for, I'm sorry but this probably won't be you cup of tea. It'll, like the rest of the Wars of Legends verse, also mainly be focused on the Stargate side of things, so if you're looking for a heavy Harry Potter or Blood+ centric story again you'll likely have to look elsewhere.
> 
> Also, this story is going to be less focused than the rest of the WoLverse excepting Sidestories . In those I always I had a personal end goal that the main characters were striving for, yet I wasn't able to do the same for this fic. I hope it doesn't affect the quality too much but it was something I noticed as I wrote the fic and something that should be shared.
> 
> With those warnings out of the way, what did you readers think of this chapter? Do let me know in a review or two.
> 
> Beyond that, there's really nothing more to say today. So… Till next time, ciao~!


	2. Arrival - Settling In

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of the IPs from which any imported elements may originate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Pegasus War**

**Chapter Two: Arrival - Settling In**

**Beta: **

* * *

Shortly after _Atlantis _resurfaced, communication was reestablished with the Milky Way to inform Coalition High Command of the successes of the Expedition so far and to signal the deployment of the sizable military fleet assigned to reinforce it.

While the Expedition awaited the fleet, they weren't idle. Instead, they moved to fortify _Atlantis _as best as they were able helped along by a constant stream of personnel and materiel arriving via Gate, a feat made possible by _Atlantis_' fully restored power grid.

The Ancients who had previously occupied the cityship had used it as their capital, not a warship, and while it possessed formidable defenses and a healthy dose of offensive capabilities as well, it was nowhere near the standards of a proper military installation that the Expedition needed it to be. As such, its personnel were hard at work rectifying the situation.

Standing on the observation deck just off the Stargate Ops Room, Dr. Weir watched with only mild annoyance as work crews added a whole host of new weapon systems to the city. She was a diplomat at heart and disdained the use of violence whenever possible, thus it pained her to see _Atlantis _being converted into a warship. However, she'd read the files from the Repository of Knowledge and knew that if they wanted to survive in the hostile Pegasus galaxy this needed to be done.

_It doesn't mean I have to like it. _Elizabeth thought to herself as she glanced through the glass windows to see Jade and Albionian gun crews installing Rotary Staff Cannon and Medium Staff Cannon gun positions to cover the Gate. This was in addition to a pair of Browning M2s being set up by Colonel's Sumner's men the day before. All of which were necessary precautions, in addition to the existing shield over the Gate, against incursions through the Stargate.

Turning away from the men, she glanced out over the piers where more crews were working to install a number of new anti-aircraft weapons, mainly the Americans' newly developed railgun Legion CIWS batteries, but also including dozens of its heavier sister system, the REXP-RG/BBT SG railguns, and a number of Russian S-400 Triumph surface-to-air missile launchers. These were being built not only onto the piers but throughout the city, even a few on the city's underside, to ensure maximum point defense coverage.

_Which will prove useful in the hopefully unlikely event that we get caught in a ship to ship battle._

Another potentially useful addition to _Atlantis_' arsenal should such an event arise were the anti-orbital Staff Cannon and a number of antimatter missile batteries donated by Albion, both of which now dominated much of the previously empty spaces on the city's piers. These in addition to the city's admittedly depleted drone complement would make it one of, it not _the _most, powerful ship in the galaxy.

_I still can't believe how much materiel we've managed to ship through the Gate over the past week or so. Those ReMat Transporters are amazing._

The devices in question were essentially Asgard transporters redesigned by Stargate Command to move bulky goods more easily. It did so by reducing its targets into data in its memory allowing for easy transport of the briefcase sized device to the destination, such as through the Gate from the SGC to _Atlantis_, whereupon it could be used to rematerialize its cargo. The dematerialization/rematerialization process was a massive power drain though and they had needed to activate a couple of their spare Neutrino Ion generators just to get it done, but it had proved worth it as the extensive upgrading work across the city proved.

"Dr. Weir," Major Sheppard said as he walked onto the observation deck. "Am I disturbing you?"

"No, Major," Elizabeth assured him. "You have something for me?"

"Yes, mam." The Major reported dutifully. "Colonel Sumner sent me to inform you that our teams have secured about 70% of the city, no hostiles."

"Does he expect to find any?"

"No," the Major said with a grin. "But it is wise to make sure. Plus, as a precaution we're locking down every lab we find until McKay and his team can have a look at it, just in case they contained something dangerous at least."

That was the reason why soldiers from the Tau'ri, Albion and Jade contingents as well as a small group of Reetou, had spread out to secure the cityship setting up a series of checkpoints and defensive positions throughout. It could prove invaluable in the event of an emergency.

"It was one of your better suggestions," Elizabeth said, earning a look of surprise from Sheppard. "The bit about the labs I mean and that all search teams should wear environmentally sealed powered armor as a precaution."

"Colonel Sumner told you it was my idea?"

"Begrudgingly, yes." Elizabeth admitted, fully aware of the animosity between the two men. "Though I hear Rodney added the part about sealing unexplored sections and only openly them up after they were cleared?"

"Yes, he did mam." Sheppard confirmed. "That man might be a little egotistical-"

"Only a little?" Elizabeth said with a raised eyebrow.

"Alright, very egotistical." The Major conceded. "But I think he deserves to be. There's no doubt he's a genius."

"And a good, brave man when it comes down to it." The Expedition leader added. "It's why I chose him to join us."

Sheppard nodded skeptically.

"You'll see what I mean in time, Major," Elizabeth assured him. "Now then, I believe Colonel Sumner would've given you a more detailed report than what you've covered so far. So why don't we head into my office and we can discuss it."

"Yes mam," Sheppard said, snapping a salute.

Rolling her eyes at what she knew to be a joke on the man's part, she led the way to her new office just off Stargate Ops.

* * *

Royen, Magos of Albion and child of Nimue, a tall man with collar-length blond hair, a well-toned medium frame, and gentle eyes stood in _Atlantis_' power plant as he oversaw the installation of a Hyperspace Tap Energy Collection Array which should theoretically be able to fully meet the cityship's energy needs. Its installation would free up the Tau'ri's Neutrino-ion Generators to directly power the array of additions being made to the City by the Expedition. Particularly the many new weapon systems. That decentralizing the power system made it more difficult to sabotage was a bonus.

He had been seconded to the Expedition's Technical Science Department for his research into energy manipulation, which had played a small part in the development of the latest version of the very generator that he was overseeing the installation of. It was felt that with the Expedition inevitably requiring access to high energy sources to power their various systems and whatever Ancient technologies they might recover. This along with his specialization giving him an advantage in his secondary mission to develop understanding of the Wraith's ability to feed off life energy and thus counters against it, made him the perfect choice to be given the honor of representing the Mother Empress in the Pegasus.

_They are taking too long. _Royce, Royen's human half, thought as they watched the technicians work. _Dr. McKay installed those generators of his in a fraction of the time this is taking._

_Be calm, Royce. _Enjol, the cautious Goa'uld aspect of Royen's being, urged. _The Neutrino-ion Generators are designed to largely be, as the Tau'ri call it, be 'plug and play'. As such, their installation was much more straightforward and less time consuming. In contrast, the Hyperspace Tap Array is far more complex._

_I know but-_

_Your competitiveness and impatience is getting the better of you, Royce. _Royen chided. _Just think, our generator might take longer to install but it's output far outstrips that of the Tau'ri's. Isn't that enough of a win for you?_

"My lord," the chief technician said just then as he walked over. "We're ready to run a start up test now."

"Good," Royen told the man with a gentle smile. "Let's do that."

_Finally! Time to show that Tau'ri just who's got the better tech here!_

Royen and Enjol both fought hard to resist the urge to sigh at their human half's antics.

_Why did I choose to blend with him again?_

_I do not know, but even I regret your choice at times. And I wouldn't exist if you didn't._

_I'm not that bad!_

_You are! _Both Royen and Enjol replied in unison even as they began the activation test for the Hyperspace Tap Energy Collection Array.

"All safety checks are green," the technician manning a monitoring station reported.

"Power levels?" Royen asked, turning to another of his subordinates.

"At 12% of projected output and rising steadily."

"Projected power requirements for the city?" Royen asked the chief technician to double check.

"We'll need to output at 30- wait 32%."

"Why the increase?"

"Dr. McKay just cleared an Ancient high energy research lab for research and needs the power." The man reported with a groan. "That's the sixth revised power requirement increase today alone."

"Yes, it is." Royen agreed. "I'll speak to Dr. Weir about it."

"Thank you, my lord."

"No problem." Royen told his subordinate kindly. "For now, let's test for a 50% stable output. That should be more than enough buffer for the time being. We can push it upwards as demands rise. Speaking of, power levels?"

"42% and rising."

"Good, good." Royen said, pleased with the test so far.

It would be many days before the rounds of tests of the Hyperspace Tap Energy Collection Array was complete, but by the end of it Royen was pleased to report that it was functioning perfectly and was more than able to meet the needs of the Expedition. In so doing he'd done it a great service and done the Mother Empress proud.

What more could a child of Nimue ask for?

* * *

A week and a half after the Expedition had claimed and resurfaced _Atlantis_, its fleet complement finally completed the long trip from the Milky Way and arrived over Lantea, the world that the fabled cityship called home.

The journey had taken so long because not all of the fleet's ships were capable of intergalactic travel and these purely interstellar vessels had to be towed through hyperspace by the Tau'ri, Albion and Chiropteran ships, slowing down the whole voyage.

Despite this difficulty, crossing the intergalactic gulf was an incredible achievement and as the massive fleet exited hyperspace in orbit over Lantea it was greeted by cheers from its travel weary crews. Celebrations that were shared by the crowd watching its arrival from viewscreens throughout _Atlantis_ courtesy of footage being live streamed from the observation telescopes that had been set up.

The Expedition fleet was truly a sight worthy of the adulation it received. Hundreds of Ha'tak, Shel'tak and Al'kesh from Jade, Albion and some of the larger Free Jaffa factions flew in formation next to hundreds of Chiropteran _Bonaparte _and _Résurrection_s. They made up the bulk of the fleet bu there were other notable additions as well such as the dozens of Reetou frigates; the single teardrop shaped Ohne destroyer, the _Star Explorer;_ the pair of _Prometheus _class destroyers and lone _Daedalus _battlecruiser that was the Tau'ri component of the fleet; as well as the single Cylon Basestar, _Graystone,_ from the Cylon War era with its two disc shaped sections connected by a narrow central column that had been converted into a dedicated factory ship.

It was a significantly large fleet, especially for an expeditionary deployment to another galaxy. It thus was a powerful show of commitment to the Pegasus made by the fledgling Coalition.

It was also a force that the beleaguered Pegasus sorely needed. Not that the Expedition, much less the Coalition, fully grasped that fact just yet.

* * *

A couple days after the arrival of his fleet to the Lantean system, Marc Berlioz, Chiropteran Chevalier, was on board his flagship, the _Musashi_, busy drawing up plans for defensive patrols for the system.

He was a member of a Hive in the Milky Way that bordered Jade space and was led by the Hive Queens Shirohime and Kurohime. Looking like a clean-shaven young man with dark eyes and equally inky black hair that he wore casually unkempt and allowed to fall over his eyes. Dressed in a three-piece suit with a black tie as he was, he looked like he was at best in his mid-twenties. Truth be told though, by human standards he was a rather old man, having been converted by the former Queen back in Indochina during Earth's Second World War when he'd ran afoul of the Japanese and had ended up as one of a number of French detainees rescued by elements of his Queens' forces during the Japanese occupation of the region. Having lost everything to the war, upon his recovery from the torture he had been subjected to he'd pledged his service to his saviors.

That he'd thought at the time made his life quite fantastical enough already, however as he heard through the Swarmmind reports of a nanovirus plague ravaging _Atlantis _as a result of a research team accidentally breaking a sample in a Lantean viral lab he couldn't help but gape incredulously at the situation.

_A nanovirus, really!? _He sent back to the Warrior collective operating in the city.

_And here I thought my life was out of a story._ He thought to himself privately.

_Yes, Chevalier. _The Warriors of _Atlantis_, yes that was what they were calling themselves now, replied easily. _Dr. Weir is requesting that you deploy one of your ships to unleash an EMP over the city. Dr. McKay is certain that doing so will render the nanites inert._

_Understood. _Marc sent back. _The _Yasuke _is closest to the city at the moment. There. It's en route. It should fire off an EMP in a minute or two._

_Dr. Weir sends her thanks. _

_A little premature. _Marc mused privately even as he watched through the _Yasuke_'s eyes as it moved into a position directly over _Atlantis_ before unleashing a powerful EMP using a quick reconfiguration of its shield emitters. It fried the machines, but they were easily repaired.

_Dr. McKay reports that the city's sensors reports that the nanites have been disabled. Dr. Weir once more sends her thanks._

_No thanks are necessary. Just doing our duty. _Marc replied, sending along the _Yasuke_'s Pilot's agreeing sentiments as well.

_What next? _Marc thought to himself with a shake of his head, as he opened his mind to the Fleetmind to continue the planning of the system's defense. _A shadow monster?_

_Chevalier, according to their records that happened last week. _The Fleetmind sent to him. _It was a lab animal that escaped from its enclosure in one of the labs._

_Please tell me you're joking. _Marc sent back incredulously. Even for a Chiropteran Chevalier and someone familiar with the possibly insane situations that could arise thanks to Gate travel as exemplified by the adventures of the SGC, this Atlantis Expedition was shaping up to be out of this world.

_I'm afraid not, Chevalier._

_What in the world have we gotten ourselves into._

* * *

"So they just left it alone?" Aris Fon, commander of the Cylon contingent of the Expedition said as she examined the image being transmitted from _Graystone_'s external cameras of a structure that looked like a mass of interlocking pipes centered around a central command module through the Basestar's datastream.

As a model Eight Humanoid Cylon, Aris was a slender but athletic East Asian woman with shoulder length black hair and black eyes. Eyes that now raked over the footage of the derelict with keen eyes.

The Expedition fleet had located the satellite at one of Lantea's Lagrange points. According to the database back on _Atlantis_, it was a deactivated and damaged Lantean defense satellite. One that was equipped with a single powerful Lantean plasma cutting beam. It was quite likely the last of its kind.

"_They did."_ Commander Berlioz confirmed as they conferred over subspace comms. "_We can only speculate as to why, but my bet is that after disabling it they simply didn't want to waste the effort finishing it off. Not when Atlantis was so close."_

"They abandoned it to go after the bigger prize? I'd believe that."

"As enlightening as all this is, might we move on to the real issue here?" Daniel Graystone, the controlling controlling intelligence for the _Graystone _cut into the conversation.

Daniel like most of the AIs that made up the controlling intelligences of Cylon ships preferred a humanoid avatar and in his case that meant taking on the appearance of his namesake, and creator of the Cyrannus iteration of their race. This translated into him having the appearance of a middle aged man with dark auburn hair perpetually dressed in a suit and tie.

"_Apologies, Mr. Graystone."_ Commander Berlioz said with a nod. "_As you rightly point out, let's get to the matter at hand. The production of our own version of this satellite."_

Shortly after the satellite's discovery, the Chiropterans had reverse engineered it and had designed a version for the Expedition's own use. It was superior to anything else they could produce considering the limited resources available to the Expedition. The plan was to build them in bulk and deploy them en masse to help secure the Lantean system and other further systems they might liberate.

"I've had a chance to peruse the schematics you sent over," Daniel said. "We'll need to upgrade our production lines but we'll definitely manage. The modular design you went with is a great help as well thanks to their size, making the whole thing more manageable. Overall, it's a challenge but it is completely doable."

"_I'm glad to hear it. When can you begin pro- Wait, is that?"_

"It's a distress signal." Aris confirmed. "It's coming from Major Sheppard's team. Didn't Colonel Sumner send them down to investigate that crashed Wraith supply ship's distress signal on the second planet?"

"_Yes, they did." _Marc confirmed. "_Ms. Fon, the Graystone is the closest ship."_

"I'll get on a Heavy Raider and see what's going on. Daniel, finish the negotiations without me." Without waiting for a reply, Aris pulled her hands out of the liquid interface Cylons used to connect with their systems and broke out into a run for the nearest Ring transporter.

* * *

Within minutes, she was on a Heavy Raider alongside a team of Centurions and jumping to Major Sheppard's last known coordinates.

"Major Sheppard, this Aris Fons of the _Graystone_." Aris radioed ahead as her craft jumped into the planet's orbit. "I'm on my way. What is the nature of your emergency. Your last transmission was unclear."

"_We have a Wraith survivor down here with us and we lack the firepower to deal with it. A little help would be nice."_

"A survivor after 10,000 years!?" Aris gawked.

"_We were surprised too. It let it get a jump on us_." Sheppard radioed back. "_It's already killed Abrams and Gall. So hurry it up, could ya?"_

"We'll be there in a few minutes. Hang in there. Aris out."

Turning to the small monitor that the Heavy Raider's intelligence was using to project its image, that of a famous Caprican flying stuntman from before the Cylon War, she received a nod and the ship went into a sharp dive. Thanks to the inertial negators that the Cylon Collective had received from their patrons, the Chiropteran Swarm, Aris barely felt any of the massive forces that the ship was being subjected to.

"Why not just jump?" Aris asked the intelligence.

"We don't have a close enough lock on Major Sheppard's location." The intelligence replied. "Reentry will give us time to pinpoint where he is."

Aris just nodded, even as the HUD came alive with the scans of the target area.

"Got them," the Raider intelligence replied. "The Wraith is standing just outside the Jumper. Looks like he's facing off against the Major. The Major is hurt."

"Do you have a lock?"

"Too close for a missile." The intelligence replied. "Give me a mo- There! Guns sighted."

"Fire!"

Even as Aris gave the order, the Heavy Raider's guns, a pair of plasma repeaters, barked to life and shot forth a stream of plasma projectiles that proceeded to blow apart the Wraith.

"_Good shooting," _Major Sheppard replied, sounding pained.

"Thank you, Major." The Raider intelligence preened.

Rolling her eyes at the AI, Aris addressed the injured Tau'ri soldier. "Give us a minute to land, Major. We'll be with you shortly."

"_See you in a few. Sheppard out."_

Turning back to the Centurions, Aris was pleased to find they had already started readying medical supplies. A pair of them had just finished unfolding a stretcher, while another was hefting a comprehensive first aid kit. The remainder were still clutching their weapons, ready to deal with any more Wraith that might be out there.

"Come on, let's go," Aris said as she led her brethren off the Heavy Raider the moment it landed and lowered the boarding ramp. "We've a friend to save."

* * *

A few hours after the rescue of Major Sheppard and Dr. McKay and their subsequent return to _Atlantis_, Daniel Graystone, controlling intelligence of the Cylon factoryship _Graystone _watched his commander Aris Fon pace around his command center through his internal cameras with a growing sense of irritation.

"Are you really _sure _we can manage this?" The Eight asked with a frown as she gestured towards the holographic projection of a wireframe reproduction of the Coalition's rendition of the Lantean defense satellite. Like the original, it was roughly equivalent to the size of a Ha'tak and looked like a tuning fork, the twin prongs between which the powerful energies for its main weapon would be focused.

"I've already began production on the parts for the prototype." Daniel informed her coolly.

"Didn't we have to upgrade our production lines first?"

"I've done that already. Obviously." The AI retorted. "You were gone for hours, _Commander_."

If the Eight heard the sneer at her rank, she ignored it. In hindsight, Daniel shouldn't have been surprised. The Cylons didn't really use ranks. While they weren't a complete hivemind, they could sync with each other through their datastream connections and thus create a consensus on courses of action in a relatively short amount of time. This included the assigning of positions of authority. Thus all such positions literally had the support of the consensus of most, if not all, of the Cylon Collective. As such, their authority was rarely questioned. This being the case, there was no real need for any formal ranks within their society though they did use them when dealing with other cultures.

"Efficient as always, Daniel." Aris praised. "And I'm not doubting your abilities. It's just… This is incredibly advanced technology we're talking about here. Things centuries, maybe millennia, ahead of anything we possess. Can we really reproduce something that advanced?"

"Of course we can," Daniel scoffed. "We might not understand how it works entirely, but the Chiropterans were kind enough to include instructions on how to build it when they sent over the schematics. You know how considerate they are."

Daniel wasn't even exaggerating. The Swarm had been the Cylons' patrons for only a relatively short time, but their impact had been nothing short of immense. Not only had they helped to reorder their entire society into a more egalitarian one but had also helped to advance their technologies by leaps and bounds. Daniel cared little for the former, even if his very existence could be chalked up to it, but the latter was something he was deeply grateful for. Not only had the Chiropterans given them impossible, nigh magical, technologies they also _always _included instructions on how to best build and integrate such wonders into Cylon systems. This time was no exception.

"Yes, I know. But surely things won't just be smooth sailing."

"Of course not," Daniel shot back. "Did I say it would be? I merely said that we'd make it work. That's why we build prototypes isn't it? To work out flaws?"

"I suppose," Aris said with a sigh. "I'm just worried."

"Do not be," Daniel reassured her. "We _will _do our part to liberate the Pegasus galaxy."

"Is that what this about?" Aris asked, looking surprised. "You want to prove-"

"That we are worthy members of the Coalition. That we are worthy of the efforts the Chiropterans took to uplift us. Yes, I do want to prove all that."

Aris nodded. "I suppose I can't fault you for that. I don't think there's any Cylon alive which doesn't think that way."

No, there probably wasn't. The Cylons knew they owed the Chiropterans and through them the Coalition much. Thus every Cylon, at some level, was driven by a need to return the favor and prove that all the generosity they'd received was justified.

"Though, I've asked this of almost all the others, so I should ask you too."

"What is it?" Daniel asked, wary of this seeming non sequitur.

"When you say you were willing to play your part in liberating the Pegasus, does that include a willingness to fight our fellow machines, the Asurans?"

"Why bother asking such a silly question," Daniel sneered. "They might be machines too but they aren't Cylons, there isn't any sense of commonality between our peoples. Thus to me, and I'd wager, most Cylons they are the enemy, no more."

"I'm glad to hear that."

"Good, now will you go and sleep already!" Daniel demanded. "You've been awake for the better part of twenty hours! Even for your physiology that's pushing it. Go rest and let me get back to work."

"Alright, alright, you sourpuss." Aris said teasingly. "I'll get out of your hair and go take a nap. Don't do anything I wouldn't while I'm sleeping though."

"Fine. Just go already."

Chuckling at him, the Eight left to _finally _get some rest.

_Why is it that I feel like I'm the superior here? Maybe the Consensus made a mistake this time? _Daniel grumbled to himself as he watched through his internal cameras to make sure Aris made good on her word and didn't just run off to do _more _work. All the while, he continued to oversee the production of the prototype defense satellite.

Or in other words, just another day in the life of the _Graystone_.

_And I wouldn't have it any other way. But enough wool gathering. It's time to get down to work. We have a system to secure and a galaxy to save._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done!
> 
> Hope you readers liked this look into a trio of new characters. Hope they were entertaining at least.
> 
> Well, not much more to say than that. So till next time, adieu!


	3. Opening Explorations - The Traska Incident

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of the IPs from which any imported elements may originate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Pegasus War**

**Chapter Three: Opening Explorations - The Traska Incident**

**Beta: **

* * *

Once the Expedition was well underway in fortifying _Atlantis _and the Lantean system against attack, its leader Dr. Weir had decided it was time to begin exploring the Pegasus galaxy.

"Gentlemen," the Expedition leader said from the balcony of the Stargate Ops Room that overlooked the Gate. "I don't think I need to emphasize any further the importance of your missions today. We are alone in this galaxy and even with support from back home, we will need allies in this galaxy to survive. To that end, your teams are our best hope in finding us some much needed new friends. As such, I wish you all the best of luck."

Turning away from the gathering of soldiers standing in front of the Gate, Weir addressed Dr. Grodin at the dialing device. "Dial the Gate."

As the Gate dialed, Terence eyed the two groups of soldiers. Instead of the standard 4-man reconnaissance teams that they'd been assigned to, the Expedition leadership, mainly its ground forces commander Colonel Marshall Sumner, had ordered an augmented unit for their first forays through the Gate. They might be going to worlds that the _Atlantis _database flagged as safe and home to human populations, but they couldn't afford to be anything but cautious. Especially when said database hadn't had an update in upwards of ten thousand years.

To further increase their success, the Colonel had also split them into two groups, each with its own world to explore. One group was under the Colonel's direct command and consisted entirely of his fellow Americans, who made up a large part of the ground troopers of the Expedition anyways. The other was made up of soldiers from various other Earth nations, including Terence himself, under the command of Lt. Colonel Hilmi bin Sultan.

Colonel Hilmi was a bearded Malaysian special forces officer and Terence's immediate superior as leader of his team, Atlantis Reconnaissance 15(AR-15). He was a no nonsense guy which was something Terence respected.

_Now if only he wasn't so abrasive and just learned to lighten up once in a while. _The lieutenant thought as he watched Colonel Hilmi berate a young Indian sergeant for something or the other.

"He's a real piece of work, isn't he?" Chief Petty Officer Yod Kriangsak said from next to Terence.

The Singaporean just nodded in response to his Thai teammate's statement. Yod was a well built member of the Royal Thai Marine Corps and AR-15's designated heavy weapons officer. A jovial fellow, Terence had come to enjoy his company. With his constant joking around, there was never a dull moment with him around.

"While I do agree with both of you, I do not think it wise to let Colonel Hilmi hear us describe him as such." Terence's last teammate, Staff Sergeant Larry John Macasaet, said from Terence's left. "I doubt he'd appreciate it."

Larry was a muscular non-commissioned officer in the Philippine Army but what really made him stand out was the fact that he was a wizard. His magical talents having made him AR-15's magical specialist. The Coalition was uncertain about the presence of magic in the Pegasus, though they were fairly sure it did since it was a trait of near-Ascension and the Ancients were known to be striving to achieve that during their time in the galaxy. Hence, their inclusion of wizards like Larry in the Expedition. That said, with or without magic in the Pegasus, Larry's magical talents would be greatly appreciated in a firefight.

The signature whooshing sound of the Stargate initializing had Terence and his teammates turning away from their team leader surveying his troops to the shimmering pool that was the wormhole the ancient device had created.

"It's beautiful," Yod commented. "I must've seen it a hundred times by now but it strikes me every time how beautiful it looks."

"I know what you mean," Larry agreed.

"Colonel Sumner," Dr. Weir addressed from the balcony. "The MALP we sent through earlier is still reading all green. You have a go."

"Yes mam." The American Colonel replied with a salute, before turning to his men. "Alright men, through the Gate. You know what to do on the other side!"

"Yes sir!" His soldiers chorused back as they cautiously walked through the wormhole, their guns raised and ready for any surprises.

As his men made their way through the Gate, Colonel Sumner turned to a Jaffa in full plate armor that had come to join Dr. Weir on the balcony above. "Second Prime, you're in charge while I'm gone."

"You honor me, Colonel." The Albion officer said with a nod. "Me and my men will keep _Atlantis _safe in your absence."

_Honour my ass, _Terence thought with a snort. _If rumor is to be believed, the only reason you'd stuck playing defense is because you lost when the senior ground commanders were drawing straws._

If that were true then it was a really shitty way to decide who would become assigned to base security from now onwards. More likely, in Terence's opinion, the Albionians had willingly ceded the right to explore the Pegasus Gate network simply as a matter of experience. While the Albionians had been using the Gates for thousands of years back in the Milky Way, they never launched an aggressive exploration through the network before while the Tau'ri, or at least the SGC, had. And deferring to the experienced was always the smart thing to do.

"I'm counting on you," Colonel Sumner said with a nod before turning to look with some clear distaste at his second-in-command, Major John Sheppard, who had been waiting for him. "Major Sheppard, let's go."

The Major nodded and watching each other's flanks, the last two American soldiers crossed the event horizon.

"Look lively men," Colonel Hilmi said as he walked up to stand in front of the Gate. "It's our turn next."

Terence gulped nervously at hearing that, but took a deep steadying breath before joining the Colonel alongside his teammates. Together, they watched as the chevrons on the Stargate locked into place one by one before with the iconic whooshing sound and a surge of energy, the wormhole stabilized.

"Colonel Hilmi," Dr. Weir addressed them. "You have an all green as well. Go ahead."

"Thank you mam," the Colonel said with a nod, before speaking to his troops. "You heard Dr. Weir. Let's show those Americans that we're just as good as them, shall we?"

"Yes sir!" The multinational contingent of soldiers replied with gusto.

Any chance to prove their worth to the often arrogant Americans or even upstage them would always be embraced by non-American soldiers. It was a matter of pride.

"Then let's do this! Go, go, go!"

As one body, the soldiers under Colonel Hilmi's command streamed through the Gate with weapons raised and ready for anything.

* * *

"Dr. Jackson, what a pleasant surprise." Colonel Hilmi greeted as the esteemed warrior scholar stepped through the Gate just as it closed. "You managed to convince Dr. Weir after all?"

"Yeah," Jackson said with a sheepish grin. "I told her that even with the patch containing the last known examples of the various languages of the Pegasus' peoples stored in our Repository of Knowledge our translators might not work since it's ten thousand years out of date. So it would be handy if you guys had a translator on hand."

"And she let _you_, out of everyone in your Department, come with us?" Hilmi asked the Expedition's Head of Cultural Studies with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, I do have the most combat experience out of everyone in my Department." Jackson said, lifting his FN P90 Personal Defense Weapon for emphasis. "We're sending the next most experienced man to rendezvous with Colonel Sumner's batch once Sarah figures out who that is."

"I see," Hilmi nodded. "Lt. Tan!"

"Yes sir," the Singaporean part-time soldier said as he came up. "Have those drones of yours located the nearest settlement?"

The drones in question were experimental Bolus drones developed by the Singapore's ST Kinetics for the Expedition. They were levitating rounded cylinders roughly the size of a man equipped with two cable-like "arms" that had been assigned as support units and which had equipped a number of heavy weapons. Most importantly for the current situation, they were flight capable thus allowing them to scout ahead from the air.

"Yes sir," Tan reported dutifully after quickly consulting the small tablet computer strapped to his arm. "The nearest settlement is a port about a hour's march northeast from here."

"That's a little far," Jackson commented as he eyed their surroundings which had been secured by Hilmi's men. "But yet by the tracks in the earth, it's clear they're using the Gate. Why is that?"

"Probably to give them some warning if the Wraith or Asurans decide to attack via Gate," Hilmi reasoned. "The Repository did mention that they like to do that."

Jackson hummed in agreement.

"Well, let's get going shall we? It's going to be quite a walk and I think we should get started."

"Agreed," Hilmi nodded. "AR-19 and AR-20 stay behind and secure the Gate. The rest of you, follow me. Tan, you and the rest of our team can babysit Dr. Jackson alongside your drones."

The young man looked a little annoyed, but nevertheless snapped a salute.

"Alright, let's move out."

* * *

The trek to the port had taken a bit more than the hour Tan had predicted, but Hilmi couldn't fault him for the miscalculation. His drones couldn't exactly account for the fact that the path through the woods between the Gate and the settlement wound around a series of hills. Not when said hills were all but invisible under the dense woodland. The drones might have been full of advanced tech, but the Colonel knew from reading their specifications that their sensors were largely based off pure Earth-tech and thus somewhat lacking.

Not that he was going to tell Tan any of that.

"What's with the European architecture?" Tan asked Jackson behind Hilmi as they walked into the settlement. As their linguist, and possibly only hope for communication if their translators failed, the Colonel had decided Dr. Jackson would need to be in the lead as they entered the town. Hence why he and his team had shifted to the head of their column.

"It's probably derived or emulated from Ancient architecture at some point. We know that they favored a similar architectural style. At least back in the Milky Way." Jackson explained. "Though I wonder why they didn't follow the later Lantean style instead."

"Isn't it your job to figure that out, Doctor?" Chief Kriangsak opined with a teasing smirk.

"Yes, yes, it is." Jackson confirmed.

"Quiet," Hilmi ordered as they neared the town. "It's time to meet the locals."

They were reaching the gate around the walled town when a local dressed in some kind of uniform stepped out of an adjacent guardhouse and gestured to them to stop.

"Heelo," the local guard said as he sported them and came forward to greet them. "Ar ye treaders?"

"Doctor?" Hilmi turned to Jackson with a raised eyebrow.

"Give the translators a minute to acclimatize to the language. That it's largely intelligible means they're working, just not perfectly."

The local just blinked at them curiously, before Chief Kriangsak stepped forward with a sigh.

"Sorry about them," he told the local with an open smile. "We're explorers, but yeah we're open to trade."

"You are?" The local said with a grin. "That's wonderful! Please wait here. My colleague has gone to get Captain Solos. He'll want to speak to you before we let you into the town."

_Looks like the translators have finished calibrating. Good._

"Sensible. Can't be too careful." Hilmi replied with a nod, while raising his own Colt M4 Carbine.

"Yes," the guard agreed. "Not when the Wraith and Asurans can attack any time."

"Excuse me, sir." Jackson said, cutting in and addressing the guard. "But while we wait for your superior, mind telling us a little about your town?"

"Of co-"

"I'll handle that," a portly man with broad shoulders and a thick waist, short balding blond hair, a close-cropped beard that followed the line of his massive jaw, green eyes and fair skin declared as he stepped out of the guardhouse accompanied by a half dozen more guards.

"Captain Solos I presume?" Hilmi asked.

"You would be correct," the Guard Captain said with a nod. "Now why don't we take this somewhere more pleasant where we can discuss who you are and what you want."

"That would be much appreciated," Hilmi told the man. "Lead the way."

* * *

Clearing customs, as it were, with Captain Solos had taken the better part of two hours. During which time, Terence and the rest had to sit patiently in the guardhouse's dining hall whilst Colonel Hilmi and Dr. Jackson negotiated their passage into the town with the Guard Captain and the Guildmaster of the town's Merchant's Guild, Beloukas Trask, who served as its de facto mayor.

Trask was a short, creepy-looking little man with a small, old-fashioned handlebar mustache who was wearing a tuxedo that on Earth would be associated with a circus ringmaster, glasses with a small chain attached, white gloves, a top hat, and a bow tie. He was also apparently a descendant of the town's founder hence why it was called Traska. Despite his odd appearance and high standing, he was a generous, polite person and had paid out of his own pocket to have the Expedition teams fed lunch when the negotiations overran into mealtime.

"It isn't just the architecture. The whole package is totally like we're transplanted a medieval European town into the present." Terence commented as he and most of his team, sans Colonel Hilmi who was still negotiating some terms with Captain Solos, escorted Dr. Jackson as they explored the town.

"Not quite." Dr. Jackson corrected. "But pretty close. For one, they have indoor plumbing."

"And thank god for that," Yod commented.

"Amen," Larry said in agreement.

"Ah! There it is!" Dr. Jackson said with a grin as he nodded towards an elaborate structure at the heart of the town. "The temple of Janus. It's right where Guildmaster Trask said it would be."

The temple was a major departure from all the other buildings in the settlement. Unlike the medieval looking houses and structures that made up the rest of the town, it was a marble structure that wouldn't have looked out of place outside of classical Greece.

"It certainly stands out," Yod commented as they climbed the steps up into the building. "I'm sure we'd have found it even without those directions."

"It certainly does," Larry concurred after making the sign of the cross.

"Why did you do that?" Terence asked his teammate curiously.

"To remind myself that though I enter the house of another god, there is only one god."

"LT, did you forget Larry's a devout Catholic?" Yod asked jokingly as they strode past the columns at the temple's entrance and into the building proper.

"No," Terence replied firmly. "I've just never seen any Catholic do that before when they enter another religion's house of worship."

"Each person expresses their faith differently," Dr. Jackson commented.

"Dr. Jackson is correct," Larry added.

"Ok, ok, I get it." Terence said with his hands up in a placating gesture.

"So doc," Yod said, clearly intent on changing the topic of the conversation. "You think this temple has been around even before the town got founded like the locals say?"

"It certainly looks like it," Larry opined.

"I wouldn't know," Dr. Jackson replied. "Not yet. Not without a proper examination of the place. Lt. Tan!"

"Yes, doctor?"

"Could you bring one of those drones of yours over? I'd like to have them scan these murals." Dr. Jackson requested as he gestured towards the paintings that covered the walls depicting a god like figure, Janus presumably, raising silver men from ashes that then proceeded to guard the Pegasus from monstrous creatures with a passing resemblance to what everyone in the Expedition knew to be the Wraith.

_If this story contains a grain of truth… Then we might have a clue _why _the Asurans are running amok. All the Repository on Earth and the _Atlantis _database said was what they were and that they were a threat._

"Sliver men, huh? Looks like the Asurans to me." Yod asked, even as Terence keyed in the commands into the computer strapped to his wrist to carry out Dr. Jackson's request.

"They probably are," Dr. Jackson agreed. "And since the locals fear them as much as the Wraith, I'm pretty sure they didn't build this place."

"Then who do you think did?" Larry asked curiously.

"The Asurans most likely," Dr. Jackson said with a thoughtful hum. "And these murals might depict their beliefs.

"Which are what exactly?" Colonel Hilmi asked as he stepped into the temple, apparently having concluded negotiations.

"I can't be sure, but at a glance it's clear they revere Janus." Dr. Jackson said with a self-deprecating grin. "But it doesn't take a genius to figure that out."

"No, it doesn't." Colonel Hilmi agreed even as the requested Bolus drone arrived and Terence tasked it to scanning the temple. "But you can report your more detailed findings later. For now, we should head over to the Merchant's Guild. Guildmaster Trask wants to throw us a feast in welcome."

"That's awfully gen-"

"Shit!" Terence shouted as the Bolus' sensors picked up something.

"Tan, what happened?"

"A subspace signal just activated. It's coming from over there." Terence said, pointing at a statue of Janus placed into a nook along the wall. "I think the Bolus triggered it."

The team exchanged looks.

"Smart," Dr. Jackson said with a frown. "Set up an obviously out of place building that will almost certainly be investigated and hide a detector to pick up advanced technology, which when triggered sends out a subspace signal? That's brilliant."

"I don't think we have time to be complimenting our foes, Doctor." Colonel Hilmi snapped as he turned to Yod. "Chief, inform the others that we have a situation and to gather at the Merchant's Guild."

"The Guild, sir?" Terence asked, confused by the choice of rendezvous point.

"It's central and we'll need to convince Trask of the need to evacuate. Forming up there will kill two birds with one stone."

Terence nodded, humbled by his superior's forward thinking.

"Alright, let's go everyone." The Colonel said as they all started moving towards the rendezvous point even as Yod relayed the information to the others via radio. "We have a fight to prepare for."

* * *

"_Sir!" _Tan reported over the radio from where he'd taken up position behind a sturdy stone wall of someone's courtyard just down the street from the large planter that Hilmi himself was using as cover. "_The Bolus just spotted five unidentified craft descending from orbit."_

"From orbit?" Hilmi muttered in surprise. "The planet must have a Spacegate."

"Tan, what do these bogeys look like?"

"_They're Mobile Armors of some kind, sir. Based on visuals alone I'm seeing a pair of big forward facing guns, probably beam weapons of some type, and two underslung rotary weapons. No sign of drones. I repeat, no drones."_

"_That doesn't sound like anything in the Repository or the Atlantis database,"_ Dr. Jackson noted. "_The Asurans must have developed it in the intervening years since the Ancients left Pegasus."_

"_Obviously," _Chief Kriangsak said cuttingly. "_And as much of a relief them not having any of those Ancient drones are, any idea what else they're packing."_

"_Well, we know the Asurans like their energy weapons. So probably plasma bolts." _

"Very insightful, Dr. Jackson." Hilmi retorted sarcastically. "Tan, ETA?"

"_They'll be on us any second now."_

"_I see them," _the leader of AR- 17 said from his position down at the town's docks.

As the machines streaked over the town in what looked like an attempt at reconnaissance, Hilmi did too. The Asuran Mobile Armors looked vaguely like insects or crabs complete with a pair of wings raised in a v-shape from their abdomen, with a pair of prominent barrels jutting out from either side of their heads and an underslung pair of rotary weapons.

Hilmi waited till the machines were completely over the town, before he gave the order for their opening move.

"Now!" The special forces operator shouted as he stood out of concealment and lifted a missile launcher over his shoulder and quickly depressed the trigger. Almost immediately, a single "Fly Swatter" anti-fighter missile flew into the air towards the Asuran machines as they circled back.

It was joined by a half dozen more of its ilk, which all proceeded to detonate just ahead of the Mobile Armors and through their in built micro munitions created a cloud of deadly explosions that ripped three of the attacking machines to shreds.

This prompted a cheer that Hilmi heard over the radio from the forest where, after some tough negotiations and some intimidation in the form of displays of some of their high tech gadgets, Dr. Jackson had convinced the locals to flee. Something he'd only managed by allowing himself to effectively let himself be taken hostage by them to prove their intentions.

Unfortunately, Hilmi wasn't the only ones who heard the cheering and one of the two remaining Asuran machines turned towards the forest and began opening fire. It hadn't hit the spot where the locals were hiding just yet, but it would soon enough.

"Reload and fire another volley," Hilmi ordered even as he rushed to do the same, all over the frantic attempts by Dr. Jackson to encourage the now terrified locals to flee further into the woods.

"_Sir! The other machine darted around the town and is hitting the docks! It's already taken out AR-17's position!" _Someone shouted urgently over the radio. Hilmi was too busy preparing to take another shot with his missile launcher to figure out who exactly. "_Sir! Get out of there! It's heading right for you!"_

_Too late for that! _Hilmi thought even as he could hear the explosions behind him as the Asuran plasma bolts tore up everything in its path as its weapon tracked towards his position. _But I'm not going down without taking another one of you bastards with me!_

Moments before where he was standing was completely destroyed by a rain of plasma from the attacking Asuran Mobile Armor's rotary plasma cannons and his body with it, Hilmi depressed the trigger on his missile launcher sending a missile streaking towards his killer's compatriot.

Too busy terrorizing the defenseless Traskans hiding in the forest, the other Mobile Armor was caught entirely by surprise as Hilmi's "Fly Swatter" slammed into its side, penetrating its hull and allowing its micro munitions to spread inside its frame before they detonated, reducing it to scrap that rained down on the scattering locals.

* * *

"There's only one left," Terence shouted over the radio in a desperate bid to rally the men. With Colonel Hilmi dead, that left him in charge. Well, not quite. He wasn't technically the highest ranking surviving officer, but whoever that was didn't seem to be complaining. "Anyone still has a missile?"

A chorus of negatives echoed over the radio and Terence ground his teeth together in frustration while struggling to come up with a plan even as he watched the lone remaining machine lay waste to Traska in a bid to flush his men out.

"Larry, can you do something with your magic?"

"_Against a Mobile Armor? I'm sorry, but I'm not that powerful."_

_The higher ups back home will have my head for this, but I have no choice._

"Alright, I think I have a plan." Terence said over the comms even as she hastily keyed in commands on his wrist computer, sending the three Bolus he had under his command to streak into the sky at the much larger Asuran vehicle like missiles. Two hit their target, blowing huge holes into the machine's side but the third bizarrely stopped short and froze.

_Please don't tell me it's doing what I think it's doing._

As the drone promptly turned around and added its firepower to the Asuran war machine, Terence just cursed under his breath.

_So much for drone warfare being the future. _Terence thought with a frown as he took aim before firing a burst from his SPAR 21 (Singapore Plasma Assault Rifle - 21st Century) right through the Bolus' central rounded eye, destroying it.

_It seems the elder races were right that letting anything short of a fully sapient AI control a weapon autonomously is a bad idea. Who would've thought it? _He added to himself sarcastically, even as he ran like hell as the Asuran machine blasted away his previous position. _It's not like without a pilot of some kind, it would be super easy to hack into and subvert._

Not that piloted machines were hacker proof, but with man-machine interfaces and careful compartmentalization of function for computer systems it could be made highly resistant. At least more so than a drone ever could be. It was not like most people had access to the super advanced quantum entangling technology that Albion used, but even with it they used it sparingly. Which spoke volumes.

_Guess I'll have to ask the Cylons to upgrade the damned things' cybersecurity when I get back._

"**Bombarda Maxima**!" Larry's familiar voice shouted, tinged with some kind of supernatural quality that let it reach Terence's ears even across the chaotic battlefield.

Risking a glance, he saw a white beam shoot out from a pile of rubble some distance away and sail right into one of the gaping holes in the Asuran machine's side that one of the earlier kamikaze Bolus had created. A hole that suddenly widened greatly as a decently sized explosion tore through the damned thing's internals.

The blast must have damaged the thing's propulsion in some way because the machine promptly began listing in the air and began making a beeline to crash.

"Oh shit!" Terence cursed as he ran as fast as he could to hopefully escape the crash zone.

Thankfully, he'd managed to make it behind a sturdy stone building of some type that held against the shockwave of the crash.

"_Sir! I'm reading movement in the wreckage!" _Someone Terence didn't recognize said over the comms. "_Judging by the size, I'm guessing it's the pilot."_

Ducking out of over, Terence saw it for himself as a perfectly unharmed human in impeccable clothing pushed aside wreckage as he tried to escape his crashed machine. Except it wasn't a human and Terence wasn't about to let the Replicator just walk away. Not after all the devastation it had caused.

"Keron disruptor attachments on!" Terence ordered. "Everyone with a shot take it!"

At his order, dozens of energy pulse waves were fired at the hapless Replicator reducing it to a pile of inert silver dust.

"_Oh, thank god it's over!" _Yod said over the radio, expressing their collective relief

"Amen, Yod. Amen."

* * *

A couple hours later found the remnants of the Expedition team and a number of fearful Traskan survivors of the raid, mainly sailors and merchants whose livelihoods had been destroyed by the Asuran attack, stood before the planet's, which they'd belatedly learned was called Lacus, Stargate as they dialed _Atlantis_.

The refugees were those among the Traskans that had decided to follow their saviors rather than risk further retaliation from the Asurans. This amounted to about half the small town's population, or a couple thousand people including both Guard Captain Solos and Guildmaster Trask. The rest had chosen to stay on Lacus and seek refuge with relations in other settlements. Terence had happily let them leave. He was already likely to get his head bitten off for taking on so many new dependents. Nevertheless, he had left the other Traskan survivors a subspace communicator to allow them to remain in contact.

"You sure taking these many people back with us is a good idea, LT?" Yod asked with a frown as he eyed the huddled masses waiting as a member of AR-19 dialed the Gate. "Shouldn't we at least clear it with Dr. Weir first?"

"Don't worry about it," Dr. Jackson said firmly. "Let me talk to Elizabeth. We're the ones who brought the wrath of the Asurans upon them. That makes us responsible for them. We cannot forsake that responsibility just because it'll make our lives difficult."

"If that's the case, then I'll leave the explanation of the situation to you Dr. Jackson." Terence said with a sigh of relief. "You _are _the ranking Expedition member at the moment."

Dr. Jackson blinked in surprise for a moment before nodding. Squeezing Terence's shoulder, he leaned in to whisper into his ear. "Hang in there. You're doing great. Now, leave the rest to me."

Nodding gratefully, Terence watched as the archaeologist activated his earpiece and got on the radio to talk things over with Dr. Weir the moment that the wormhole was established.

Absolved of that burden, Terence began guiding the refugees through the Gate. A process that took a couple hours and at least four dialings. As such by the time that Terence and his team stepped through the event horizon and back onto _Atlantis_, they were exhausted.

They were therefore quite worried when they stepped through only to see a Puddle Jumper, one of the small spaceships built by the Ancients that the Expedition had discovered in various hangars in _Atlantis_, with Major Sheppard and what looked like a small strike force inside hovering expectantly just in front of the Stargate.

"What's going on?" Terence asked to no one in particular.

"Nothing you need to worry about, Lieutenant," Dr. Jackson who had Gated back ahead of them said as he came to their side. "Why don't you and your team go rest."

Terence nodded reluctantly but allowed the archaeologist to guide him and his team away from the Gateroom even as the Stargate shut down and a new address was immediately dialed. The last thing he saw as he turned around a corner and lost sight of the Gateroom was the Puddle Jumper shooting through a newly opened wormhole.

_Whatever mission the Major is on, I pray it's successful._

* * *

_Guess my prayers are worthless. _Terence thought to himself with a sad sigh as he mingled among the numerous mourners at the end of the memorial service for those lost in the recent operations to Athos and Lacus. A number that included both Colonel Sumner and Lt. Colonel Hilmi.

"Lt. Tan," Dr. Jackson called out as he walked over. "I would like to have a word with you."

"What is it, Doctor?"

"We just received word from our Traskan friends back on Lacus."

"It's bad news isn't it?"

"Unfortunately, yes. They just hailed us to inform us that the planet was attacked the Asurans a day after we left. The Replicators scourged the planet without so much as an explanation for their actions. There are only a handful of survivors left and they're asking for sanctuary."

"We're going to give it to them?"

"Of course," Dr. Jackson informed him.

"Thanks for letting me know Doctor. I appreciate it."

"Don't be too hard on yourself, young man." Dr. Jackson told him kindly. "You did your best to save those people. You couldn't do more than that."

Terence just nodded and just walked away.

_He's wrong. I can always do more. And that's exactly what I'll do. Next time there won't be another tragedy like this._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done!
> 
> This was a tough one to write. I haven't done gunfights in a long time and while the battle isn't quite that, it was close. I had to essentially relearn the skills involved from scratch. That was hard. Hopefully, it wasn't too bad.
> 
> Visual guide:
> 
> The Asuran Mobile Armors: TS-MB1B Euclid from the Gundam franchise
> 
> Well, that's all for this chapter. Till next time, ciao~!


	4. Opening Explorations - Culture Clash

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of the IPs from which any imported elements may originate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Pegasus War**

**Chapter Four: Opening Explorations - Culture Clash**

**Beta: **

* * *

It was a few weeks since the disastrous events on Lacus and Terence, his team, Major Sheppard's, a small group of Expedition ground forces, and Doctors Jackson and Gardner were on Lantea's lone continent to help their Lacuan and Athosian friends as they set up their settlements.

Well, it was mainly the job of Doctors Jackson and Gardner. The rest of them were mainly just there to escort them around, hence why Dr. McKay wasn't with Major Sheppard's team and was instead still back on _Atlantis _undoubtedly toiling away in his lab.

"These guys sure are industrious aren't they?" Yod commented as they stood observing how the Lacuans and Athosians were unloading the supplies they'd brought with them from _Atlantis _courtesy of a helpful Jade Ha'tak. "I think they'll be all unpacked within an hour. That's a lot faster than we'd have managed back home, especially without forklifts or any other machinery. Eh, Capt?"

"Yes, it is." Terence said as he fought a grimace at hearing his new rank.

He'd been promoted for the supposedly exemplary leadership he displayed on Lacus and given command of AR-15. An honor that he honestly didn't think he deserved.

"We people in the Pegasus are very used to moving things quickly. It comes with the territory of living in a galaxy where we can be caught between the risk of culling by the Wraith and annihilation by the Asurans." Wrex Krios, the newest member to AR-15, explained.

Upon his assumption as role as team leader of AR-15, Terence had been asked to fill out the hole in the team's roster left by Colonel Hilmi's death. It was a painful task, but a necessity, so Terence had grit his teeth and selected the lanky, redhead Lacuan hunter with green eyes as the late Colonel's replacement. He would serve as the team's tracker and intermediary with the Pegasus locals whenever necessary.

"Captain," Larry said jogging over from a tent in which the Lacuan and Athosian leadership was meeting to discuss things. "I think we're needed inside."

"What's the matter?" Terence asked as he walked over, Yod and Wrex falling into step behind him.

"There's been a disagreement between Ms. Emmagan and Captain Solos," Larry said warily. "One Dr. Jackson hopes you might help mediate."

_And what could I do that the esteemed diplomat can't?_

"Well, what's it about?" Terence asked as he lifted the flap to enter the tent, only to receive his answer directly from the leader of the Athosians herself.

"No," Teyla Emmagan said firmly. "My people will not share a settlement with yours, Kevan."

"See reason, Teyla." The Lacusan insisted, slamming his fist onto the table.

"Kevan!" Beloukas shouted reprovingly at his fellow Lacuan leader. "Mind your temper."

Kevan growled in agitation but visibly reined herself in.

At the same, Terence exchanged a look with Doctors Gardner and Jackson as they sat on one side of the long table that now separated the leaders of the two Pegasus tribes. Doctor Gardner shook her head, while Doctor Jackson nodded towards Kevan.

_Got it. Don't say anything but keep an eye on Kevan._

Meanwhile, Beloukas continued pushing his people's case.

"As for you, Miss Emmagan," the merchant said in a charming voice. "Surely, you see the merits in our proposal. Having separate settlements will just be a drain on resources for everyone. We'd need to duplicate _everything_."

Beloukas wasn't charming enough it seemed.

"I am aware of that," Teyla said with a sigh. "However, I must still insist on keeping our settlements separate."

"Stop being so unreasonable," Kevan snapped. "This is why we don't make women leaders! They're all a bunch of unreasonable, emotional fools!"

With that said, he stormed out of the tent even as the tent exploded into an uproar of indignation at his sexist remark.

* * *

It took a while to hunt down where Kevan had stormed off to, but eventually with Wrex's help Terence and Dr. Jackson had tracked him down to the section amidst the mountains of unloaded supplies that he and his guardsmen had claimed for their own.

"I was wondering how long it would take for you lot to find me," Kevan greeted them as they walked over to the crate which he was using as a table for his mug of ale. "You've not living up to your reputation Krios."

"Only because I thought you'd have gone to the makeshift beer hall that the alcoholics set up first." Wrex countered. "Didn't realize you had your own stash."

"How else do you think I keep my men happy?"

"I should've known," Wrex said with a chuckle.

"So Dr. Jackson, Captain Tan, I expect you're here to talk to me about what happened earlier?"

"Indeed," Dr. Jackson said with an amused smile. "Mind if we join you?"

"Krios, pull up a couple of the smaller crates for them to sit on."

Rolling his eyes at getting ordered around, Wrex nevertheless went off to grab them something to sit on.

"So what was that all about?" Dr. Jackson asked as he offered a grateful nod to Wrex and took a seat on the crate the tracker had dragged over.

"I lost my temper that's what," Kevan said with a sigh. "It was my mistake."

"I think we can all guess that much," Terence agreed as he and Wrex sat down on a larger crate they'd carried over together. "And we get why you were frustrated, but mind telling us if there was anything more than that?"

"Yes, anything that might strain relations between the Athosians and your people?"

"No need to dance around the bush, Dr. Jackson." Kevan replied with a chuckle. "It's a difference in our cultures. Nothing too serious."

"Sounds serious to me," Terence opined. "Especially if your peoples are going to live together from now on. Anything that might cause friction between you could be a very big deal."

Kevan considered this for a moment before nodding.

"You are correct," the balding man admitted. "Though I don't know how we can overcome this."

"Perhaps if you explain what's this difference, we can come up with a way to relieve tensions before it gets too serious?"

The portly Guard Captain looked thoughtful.

"Oh, just tell them what it is, old man." Wrex needled. "Whatever it is, it can't be too serious. Not if I don't even know what you're talking about."

"That's because you're blind Krios," Kevan shot back with a snort of amusement. "But very well, I'll tell you. It's in regards to the place of women in our communities. We Lacuans prefer women to serve as the homemaker, not leaders."

"I can see where that might be a problem," Dr. Jackson admitted. "But I didn't see you having any problems with Teyla. At least until you insulted her."

"Of course not. We accept that the Athosians feel differently. We trade, uh, traded with many peoples across the galaxy and have encountered many different cultures. Learning to accept cultural differences is a part of being a good trader. And all Traskans are good traders, even if they are not one by profession."

"Then why did you lose your temper earlier?"

"Teyla pushed me a little too far, Captain," Kevan explained with a sigh. "She was refusing to make any compromises and we'd been going at it for the better part of the day. My frustration got the better of me and I lashed out with the first unkind thought that came to mind."

"Why is establishing a joint settlement so important to you, anyways?" Wrex asked. "It's not like I think anyone else among our people mind either way."

"Having separate settlements would make us all less safe," Kevan told them firmly. "There is safety in numbers. And after what happened to Lacus, safety is paramount."

"A reasonable position," Daniel said with an agreeing nod. "But what you said was still uncalled for. Will you be willing to apologize?"

"Of course!"

* * *

Even as Daniel and Terence spoke with Kevan, Sarah and Major Sheppard sought out Teyla over lunch to discuss things.

"You're the one feeling sorry?" Sarah asked, genuinely surprised by what the Athosian leader had told her.

"Yes," Teyla assured her. "I should have been less forceful and more understanding in those discussions. Kevan's heart was in the right place. He was merely thinking of everyone's collective security."

"And you're not upset that Kevan insulted you and your gender?" Major Sheppard asked, sounding as surprised by this turn of events as Sarah herself was.

"No. Why would I? Kevan is not wrong in his statements. Even among us Athosians, women are rarely leaders." Teyla informed them to the two Tau'ri's shock. "Most women are like Kevan said too easily swayed by emotion to be good leaders. I myself have seen this. Women leaders leading too much with their heart and too little with their minds where their male counterparts are less likely to do so and leading their peoples to disaster. Only the most exceptional are allowed to be such. If we had half the stability that the Lacuans had, we probably wouldn't risk having women leaders at all either. However, we didn't have the luxury. We had to select whoever could take charge of their bands to be our leaders regardless of gender. We don't have the margin for error the Lacuans have to weed out _anyone _from the selection process. As such, I completely understand where Kevan is coming from."

"That is a fascinating outlook," Sarah said, genuinely impressed that a capable woman like Teyla would have such a point of view. "Are you then surprised by the number of female leaders in the Expedition?"

"Somewhat, Dr. Gardner." Teyla confessed. "But I've given it some thought and concluded that this is because your home societies are so advanced. This has allowed you the room for failure to allow women who desire it to attempt to become leaders. Those who have the temperament and desire to lead will succeed just like their male counterparts would, whilst those who do not will seek other callings."

"That is indeed the case." Sarah agreed with a nod.

"Ladies, as enlightening as all this is, aren't we going off track here?"

"Not at all, Major Sheppard." Sarah said with a chuckle. "If we don't understand how the Athosians think about this point of conflict then how can we possibly help them resolve their differences with the Lacuans?"

* * *

The Athosians and Lacuans met once more after lunch and the atmosphere inside the tent was extremely tense.

"I apologize, Teyla." Kevan said the moment he stepped in and spotted the Athoisan. "I spoke too harshly."

"Your apology is accepted, Kevan." Teyla replied offering him a smile.

"Good, good." Beloukas said with a trader's smile. "Now that relations are back on track. Why don't we get down to the business of planning our settlement shall we?"

His proposition received nods from everyone. At which point, he spoke up once more.

"And on that front, I have a compromise proposal I would like to present everyone."

"What do you have in mind, Beloukas?" Teyla asked, sounding intrigued.

"Well, like you said earlier today your objection to a joint settlement is a fear of cultural assimilation, correct?"

Teyla nodded.

"Whilst Kevan's insistence on one stems from a desire for greater collective security?"

"You know it is."

"Then why not have two separate but nearby settlements?" Beloukas suggested. "We could have a section of forest or other natural obstacle divide us which can serve as a barrier that will reduce cultural contamination, as inevitable as it is, as much as possible."

Kevan looked ready to object, but the trader raised a hand for patience and continued. "We could make a path between the two settlements though that will make movement between each in the event of an emergency easier, thus allowing for easy mutual support."

"That would provide us with a degree of collective security." Kevan mused thoughtfully.

"Yes, it would." Teyla agreed. "Whilst also allowing us both a chance to preserve our own cultures."

"That it does," Kevan agreed. "Very well. Beloukas' suggestion has my vote."

"And mine." Teyla added.

"Good, good." The trader said, twirling his mustache in satisfaction. "Then let's work out the finer details shall we?"

* * *

A few days later, the Athosians and the Lacuans, as well as various guests from the Expedition, were gathered in a clearing cut into the woods roughly equidistant from their their new settlements to celebrate their founding.

"Yod, get over here!" Terence called over to the Thai marine as he sauntered over to the table AR-15 had taken for their own, his arms weighed down with four large mugs of Lacuan ale.

"Where's Wrex?" The man asked as he sat down and distributed the alcohol.

"He went to find his sister and bring her over to introduce her." Larry told him as he took his drink.

"He has a sister?"

"Apparently," Terence said with a shrug while taking his own drink.

"Well, since he's not here yet. Then let's do this." Raising his mug, he continued. "To Lt. Colonel Hilmi. To the brave man who died saving a whole bunch of innocent people."

"To Lt. Colonel Hilmi," Terence and Larry both echoed as they clinked their mugs against Yod's own raised tankard.

"So onto less dreary matters. You won't believe what I just heard over the radio when I checked in with _Atlantis _while queuing for our drinks just now." Yod said as he finished taking the customary gulp of drink after a toast.

"What madness has stricken the city this time?" Larry asked.

"Apparently they ended up unwittingly hosting an Ascended Ancient by the name of Chaya Sar." Yod told them. "She was posing as a human leader of a world that AR-3 visited the other day and who they invited back to _Atlantis _to talk to Dr. Weir about a possible trade deal. And guess what?"

"What?" Terence asked, playing along.

"Well, she got outed by the Chiropterans the moment she got off the Puddle Jumper. They identified her as an Ascended at first sight. She was nice about it though, and explained her whole tragic backstory."

"Tragic backstory?" Terence asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Totally," Yod insisted. "You see, she's the protector of a planet called Proculus and its people and only them, unable to aid any others in the Pegasus galaxy even though she knew what they were going through. It's her punishment for disobeying orders from the Others to remain out of corporeal affairs when she acted to protect her home planet from a Wraith attack. It's why she left suddenly too. Shortly after her identity was discovered, she'd had to go repel a Wraith attack on her homeworld."

"More proof of how unjust the Others are? Why am I not surprised." Larry commented. "And people ask why I cannot accept that they are the inspiration for angels and gods, like the atheists insist they are."

"Someone's been pestering you about your faith again?" Terence asked, sitting up straight.

"No, just a discussion with some of the scientists in the Technical Sciences department over lunch yesterday."

"Oh, I saw that." Yod chimed in. "You lot were pretty into it. I was going to ask you to join me in the gym but you were looking so serious, I thought better."

"You could have just joined us," Larry suggested. "I'm sure you'd have plenty to contribute."

"Nah, I'm a simple man. I wouldn't even know the first thing to say in a debate like that."

"Says the man who went to Oxford," Terence countered.

"Hey, I went but I never graduated." Yod said defensively. "And I only went to that stuffy place because my father insisted. Part of his efforts to turn him into a scholar, which as my current situation shows was a complete failure."

Terence just rolled his eyes.

"I've got one question for you though, Larry."

"Ask away, my friend."

"Well, isn't there a problem with you being both a wizard and a devout Catholic?"

"Not particularly," Larry informed them. "The Church has offered a special dispensation for wizards for hundreds of years."

"What about the Spanish Inquisition?" Terence asked, now also curious.

"That was originally intended to root out people, wizards included yes, which sought to destroy the Church. It started out with good intentions, but it got out of hand."

"Understatement."

"I can't disagree with that." Larry conceded. "But really, so long as wizards don't abuse their magic, the Church has generally been tolerant of them. Most of the time, anyways."

"I'll trust your word on that."

Larry's reply was interrupted by Wrex's arrival with what must have been the prettiest girl that Terence had ever seen. She had shoulder-length red hair, sparkling green eyes and a figure that even through the conservative Lacuan style dress she was wearing, Terence could see rivaled a supermodel's. He was so struck by her beauty that he barely registered her brother's greeting and his introduction of the others. It wasn't until he heard his name that he returned to his senses.

"And this sister, is the commanding officer of AR-15 and my superior, Captain Terence Tan." Wrex said, an amused gleam in his eyes as they darted between Terence and his sister. "And this, everyone, is my sister, Yelana."

"I-It's a pleasure to meet you, Yelana." Terence managed to say, with only a slight fumble at the very beginning.

"The pleasure is all mine," the beauty replied in demure voice that stirred something that he couldn't quite name inside Terence. "Thank you everyone for accepting my older brother onto your team. You honor us with your generosity."

_She's so well spoken too. _

"So Yelana, how much younger are you compared to your brother? Two, maybe three years?" Yod asked, sporting a devilishly amused smirk.

"Uh, I'm six seasons younger by our people's reckoning," Yelana said as she blinked in confusion. "I'm unsure how much that is in 'years' was it?"

"Let me do the math," Larry said as he produced a tablet computer from somewhere and called up a calculator app. "Let's see… based on the differences between Lacus and Earth's days, seasons and whatnot… You'd be about two Earth years younger. Wrex?"

"Yes," the hunter said with a grin.

"How old are you?"

"I'm about 37 rotations old."

"And four seasons make one rotation?"

Wrex noddeed.

"So you're about twenty eight Earth years," Larry concluded.

"And that makes Miss Yelana here twenty six," Yod added. "The perfect age for ya, eh Captain?"

"Y-yeah," Terence admitted before he could stop himself.

Yelana blushed brilliantly at his slip of the tongue.

"Are you interested in my sister, Captain?" Wrex asked, both serious and teasing at once.

Terence _knew _he should say no, but he couldn't help himself. "Yes."

"Then in lieu of our departed parents, you have my blessing to court her if you so wish." Wrex told him, all humor gone and replaced with nothing but brotherly protectiveness.

"Wrex!" Yelana shouted, sounding scandalized.

Ignoring her complaints, Wrex continued. "But if you hurt her. Well... I know where you sleep, Captain."

Terence just nodded, shocked by the sudden turn of events.

"Now then," Larry said as he stood, taking his mug with him. "Why don't we leave this two potential lovebirds alone."

"Aye," Yod agreed, also taking his drink with him. "Let them see if they're compatible together and all that."

"Agreed," Wrex said. "Mind if I join you, Yod, Larry?"

"Sure kid, let's go."

With that the rest of AR-15 left Terence alone with Yelana, both of them blushing a bright red at having been set up in the way they had.

"I'm so sorry about this, Captain." Yelana said after a moment. "Wrex is just looking out for me is all. I'm of marriageable age, and he's anxious to see me find a husband."

"Why? I mean why would he need to be? Surely someone as beautiful as you would have no shortage of suitors?"

Yelana blushed even harder at the compliment, but shook her head. "We were poor, Captain. The poorest of the poor back in Traska. Hunting for game doesn't pay very well in a port town that has almost everything it needs shipped in. Outside of Wrex earning a few coins now and then helping Sir Kevan as a tracker when he and his go out into the woods, we struggled to get by."

"And that put off suitors?"

"Decent suitors at least," Yelana said with a nod. "Those that weren't just wanted me for my body."

"That's-"

"The way of things back in Traska. I know it was different on your world, but it was all I knew. At least, until now."

"Everything's changed, huh?"

"Yes," Yelana said with a breathy sigh. "Everything. Everyone is practically equal again. We all have almost nothing. I know it's a bad thing to say, but I actually find that to be a relief."

"I can see why if your prospects back in Traska were as bad as you say."

"But enough of such talk," Yelana said with a smile. "We are at a feast. We should be enjoying ourselves."

"What do you have in mind, my lady?" Terence asked, acting the gentleman.

Yelana's bell like laughter was a wonderful reward for his efforts, even as she stood and offered him a curtsy. "Would you offer me a dance?"

"It would be my pleasure." Terence said as she stood and returned as gallant a bow as he could manage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done!
> 
> Hope you guys liked this break from the liberation of the Pegasus to explore how the Expedition treats the people it rescues. It's kinda a template of how they'll do so going forward so I thought it prudent to offer a glimpse.
> 
> At the same time, I also took the time to explore the cultural side of things. The Pegasus has many different tribes, each with their own cultures, so of course they'd clash as seen in this chapter. Now in many cases, neither culture is better or worse than any other with each having its pros and cons. For example, the Lacuans might be less progressive in regards to women's rights than the Athosians but they also enjoyed a much higher standard of living that can partially at least be attributed to their culture. Culture shapes its people just as much as its people shapes it. As such, generally my opinion in regards to different cultures is to criticize if you must, but try to take a live and let live attitude. The only exceptions being those who might perform human sacrifice or other heinous crimes. Those I'll unequivocally say need changing.
> 
> Alright, enough ranting on my part. Till next time, adieu~!


	5. Opening Explorations - Lost Cousins

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of the IPs from which any imported elements may originate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Pegasus War**

**Chapter Five: Opening Explorations - Lost Cousins**

**Beta: **

* * *

As the Expedition's first native allies set up their new settlements, the first resupply convoy arrived from the Milky Way. Among the equipment that had shipped over were a batch of Jaffa style Powered Armor that Royen had been assigned to receive.

_I don't see why _we _have to be the ones to do this. _Royce, Royen's human half, gripped as they and their small team of Albion technicians moved around the large empty section in one of _Atlantis'_ piers that the Expedition had converted into a warehouse, meticulously going over every piece of armor that had been delivered. _Yes, the Mother Empress sent us these. But! We're not power armor specialists! What makes us any more qualified to the task than any other member of the Technical Sciences Department?_

_As you said Royce, the Mother Empress sent us these. _Enjol, their Goa'uld half, replied. _That makes it our responsibility._

_Exactly, _Royen added. _Besides, it's not like our specialist skills are entirely unnecessary here. Someone has to test that the Armors' integrated power generators are working properly._

Royce grumbled but dropped the matter, allowing Royen to breathe a sigh of relief. It would have been difficult to work with him constantly complaining about their situation. Having gained some peace in his mind, the child of Nimue dived into his work with fervour. The sooner this was done, the sooner he could get back to doing something more productive.

"Lord Royen," one of the technicians said a few hours later. "The first batch of Powered Armor has passed inspection."

"Good," Royen said, without looking up from where he was examining the readings about the generator he was examining on his kara kesh. "Send them up to Dr. McKay. I believe he's appointed himself as the lead for the conversion process."

"Yes, my lord." The young woman said, but did not leave like he expected.

"Is there something else?" Royen asked as he finally looked up from his hand device's projection.

"Apologies, my lord, but I would like to ask a question." The technician asked, fidgeting nervously.

"What is it?" Royen asked as kindly as possible.

"I merely wished to know if it is wise to allow Dr. McKay to lead the conversion process? Surely, as the lead Albionian scientist within the Expedition, the honor should fall to you?"

"Perhaps," Royen allowed. "If honor was our main consideration that is. However, it is not. Efficiency matters much more. And I cannot be in two places at once. I can either oversee this or the conversion process not both. Besides, Dr. McKay is a very capable individual and a member of an AR team himself. If anyone can modify our Powered Armor for use by the reconnaissance teams, it is him."

"I suppose," the young woman replied, sounding unhappy. "But still-"

Royen held up a hand to silence her.

"Leave it, young lady." Royen told her sternly. "You might be too young to appreciate it yet, but this world is but a stage and we must all fill our roles accordingly. Mine, for the moment, is to carry out checks on these newly arrived Powered Armor. That is all there is to it. Understood?"

"Yes, my lord." The technician said, sounding chastised before offering a hasty salute and scurrying off.

_My aren't I the hypocrite. _Royen thought to himself with a mental chuckle. _Here I am lecturing others on being happy with their assigned tasks, when I was complaining about the same thing not long ago._

_At least we got over it on our own, _Enjol pointed out. _That poor girl had to be told to do so._

_Well, hopefully she'll learn from the experience. _Royce offered.

_Indeed, learning from one's mistakes is always important._

* * *

Whilst Royen checked through the delivery of Powered Armor down on _Atlantis_, one of those who'd helped deliver the shipment and the other supplies that had been shipped from the Milky Way oversaw the last of the deliveries.

_My, aren't they industrious. It's barely been a couple months and the Expedition has already managed to build quite the supply depot. _Hermóðr, captain of the Asgard _O'Neill_ class warship, _Hala_, mused as he inputted the commands into his ship's computer to beam down the foodstuff from its hull to the assigned warehouse in the extensive complex that had constructed to store the Expedition's supplies.

"Incoming hail from _Atlantis_," The _Hala_'s computer dutifully informed him as the transport of the supplies was completed.

Gesturing to signify that he accepted the call, Hermóðr waited for the computer to connect the two systems.

"Greetings Dr. Weir," he greeted the Expedition's leader. "It is a pleasure to meet you at last."

"_The pleasure is all mine,"_ Dr. Weir said with a nervous smile. "_Apologies for being unable to greet you upon your arrival and welcome you to the Expedition. I was called away to the labs for something important."_

"I understand," Hermóðr offered the human a nod, a gesture he'd learned from Supreme Commander Thor and which was used quite commonly by humans. "And I must apologise as well for my late arrival. I would have arrived with the rest of the Expedition fleet however there was some debate within the High Council on whether to send an _O'Neill_ so far afield. Fortunately, the Supreme Commander was ultimately able to convince them of the wisdom in doing so."

"_I am glad to hear that,"_ Weir said, still looking oddly nervous. "_The _Hala _is a mighty addition to the Expedition Fleet._"

"It is indeed," Hermóðr said, allowing himself a moment to preen in pride at his ship.

"_Captain Hermóðr-" _Dr. Weir began, only to suddenly stop herself.

"Is something the matter, Doctor?"

"_Yes, you recall the matter in the labs that I mentioned earlier?"_

"The one that prevented you from speaking to me when I arrived? Yes, I remember."

"_Well, it's about a rather unsettling discovery we've made. One that I am unsure about how to share with you without causing you distress." _Dr. Weir said, looking pained.

_Cause me distress? Surely, nothing that they've found could be quite so shocking that it would do that._

"Please just go ahead, Doctor. I'm sure you're just overthinking it."

Dr. Weir winced but nevertheless complied.

"_We've finished sequencing the Wraith genome and have in addition to a host of previously unknown genes we'd expected we also came across some rather familiar ones. Human genes, of course, was expected considering their general appearance. Ancient genes were a slight surprise, but not wholly unexpected since they had prolonged contact and the Wraith likely had the chance to splice some of their DNA into their own. Archaic Chiropteran, or more accurately Genestealer, genes, was a shock but it explained the Wraith's telepathy and regeneration. However, what absolutely floored us was-"_

The Expedition leader paused then and Hermóðr felt a sense of foreboding.

"_What was completely unexpected was the substantial amount of _Asgard _genes we found."_

"A-Asgard!?" Hermóðr gasped in shock. "You found my people's genes inside the Wraith genome?"

"_Yes,"_ Dr. Weir confirmed with a worried look. "_Enough that Dr. Beckett is saying that it's practically a derivative species from your own. We can't be sure of course, but based on that he has a hypothesis about how this came about."_

"What hypothesis?"

"_We think the Lanteans were trying to cure your people's genetic degradation problems by splicing in DNA from other lifeforms and created the Wraith in the process."_

"But we never approached the Lanteans for any such help," Hermóðr protested.

"_We know. The _Atlantis _database has no records of such research either. That's why we think it was likely a rogue project by some rogue Lantean scientists, possibly at the behest of Asgard rogues like Loki."_

"Not even Loki would do something as foul as this," Hermóðr spat.

"_We agree."_ Dr. Weir said, her hands raised with palms facing towards him in a placating gesture. "_I apologize. I shouldn't have used Loki as an example. Anyone who would do something like this, create something as foul as the Wraith… They had to be terrible people."_

"Whoever they are, if these supposed rogues exist. They are no Asgard." Hermóðr declared firmly.

Dr. Weir nodded cautiously. "_Would you like me to contact Orilla to inform them about our discovery?"_

"No," Hermóðr said, recovering himself. "The High Council deserves to know such damning news from one of their own. I doubt they'd believe it otherwise. Send over all relevant data and I'll contact them myself."

"_If you're sure."_

"I'm sure."

"_Forwarding the data now."_

"I have it." Hermóðr said as his computer chimed a confirmation of its receipt.

"_Then good luck with the High Council._ Atlantis _out."_

Hermóðr just nodded and cut the communications link. That done, he took a long moment to compose himself. The revelation had shaken him more than he'd like to admit. For his people to be responsible for the monstrosity that was the Wraith… It was abhorrent to him in ways he couldn't begin to articulate. A feeling that he was sure would be shared by most of his fellows. Yet, if it was true… Then it was a truth they cannot deny.

_I need to review that data. I must present these findings to the High Council but only after I've confirmed their veracity and the accuracy of their conclusions._

* * *

A day after the damning revelations about the Wraith and their relation to his people, Hermóðr found himself watching his ship's sensor readings as part of the Expedition's regular patrols of the Lantea system.

He'd almost been forced to ask the Commanding Officer of the Expedition Space Fleet, Chevalier Berlioz, for permission to reschedule his patrol due to how long the High Council session regarding the revelation had overrun. Thankfully though they'd concluded early enough that he had been able to continue with the patrol as planned. After all that he'd learned he was filled with a determination to see to the success of the Atlantis Expedition and the liberation of the Pegasus galaxy. Only then would it absolve Hermóðr and his people from the crime of contributing to the hardship its peoples were forced to endure. Hence, he was determined to play his part in every way possible, including being prompt for his assigned patrols.

It wasn't he alone who now thought this way. Thanks to the revelation and the sentiments it had stirred up, the High Council had finally been convinced to allow the secondment of more vessels of the Fleet to the Expedition. Even as he patrolled Lantea, a dozen _Bilskirnir_s and another two _O'Neill_s were en route to Pegasus. Personally Hermóðr thought that was far from enough but the High Council was adamant that they could not draw down their Fleet strength any further for a deployment so far from their home galaxy.

_If they are unwilling to send more ships then I must just make up for it in whatever way I can. _The captain of the _Hala _thought as he diligently poured over the data his sensors were picking up.

His diligence was rewarded, when his sensor detected a single ship, roughly the size of the Tau'ri's _Daedalus_-class battlecruisers, be forced out hyperspace at the edge of the interdiction field the Expedition had deployed in the Lantean system.

"Hail Chevalier Berlioz," Hermóðr ordered his ship computer even before it could chime to inform him about the unknowns. "Inform him that we're moving to intercept."

Not waiting for a confirmation, he sent the _Hala_ into hyperspace and had it reemerge a short distance away from the unidentified ship. It looked vaguely like a scaled up version of the Lantean's Gateships, with a central cylindrical section and a pair of engine blocks built into either side at the rear which appeared to be able to be partially retracted.

"Unknown vessel," Hermóðr sent over a broad spectrum hail to the ship. "This is Hermóðr of the Atlantis Expedition. You have violated protected space. Stand down and identify yourself."

For a long, tense moment nothing happened, until the _Hala _received a request for a visual communications link in an archaic _Asgard _codec.

This stunned Hermóðr for a moment, even as a sinking suspicion began to grow in his mind. It was with this uneasy wariness percolating his thoughts that he cautiously accepted the link, mindful to raise various security measures in case it was a carrier of some kind of cyberattack.

"_Greetings brother,"_ an unfamiliar Asgard with two small implants placed on its bodies, one located above the right eye and another on the left chest, said as the link was established. "_I am Dis of the Vanir."_

"Vanir? I'm unfamiliar with that name. Who are you exactly and what are you doing here in the Pegasus galaxy?" Hermóðr demanded, even as he sent a message to the newly arrived squadron of Expedition Ha'taks to hold position around the Vanir ship but to not open fire. Yet.

"_To answer both those questions, I will need to tell you my tribe's history. Would you be willing to listen?"_ Dis asked, eyeing what must have been a display offscreen. "_If so, could you request your allies power down their weapons?"_

"No," Hermóðr replied promptly. "Our weapons will remain primed and ready. But you have my assurance that we will not fire unless fired upon. Now tell me this story."

Dis frowned, a distinctly human gesture that put Hermóðr on edge, but nevertheless complied.

"_Very well. We, that is to say the Vanir, came to the Pegasus shortly before the Ancient-Wraith war without the Asgard High Council's knowledge or authorization. With the Wraith and the Ancients occupied, we were free to conduct our experiments. Unfortunately, the hostilities came to an end sooner than we thought, and with an unexpected result. We had hoped the Ancients would emerge victorious, and were caught off guard when the Wraith won instead. The Wraith do not tolerate the presence of advanced technologies other than their own. Before we knew what was happening, we were under attack. We lost our intergalactic ships in the first battle, and we did not have the resources to build more. We had no choice but to abandon our settlements and retreat to a place where the Wraith could not look for us—a planet with a toxic atmosphere. We have remained hidden there ever since. It was not until we detected the presence of potential active Asgard technology here that we emerged for the first time in millennia."_

Hermóðr filed that history lesson away for review later. Instead, focusing clarifying an important detail.

"And what was the goal of your experiments that brought you to this galaxy in the first place?"

"_To seek a way to overcome the law of diminishing returns that plagues our cloning process. We came here to the Pegasus to do so as it allowed us to conduct our research without interference, and as a result we have made significant progress."_

"And what did your progress cost?" Hermóðr asked, already suspecting and dreading the answer.

"_Merely the lives of some primitives."_

"Humans, you mean. You experimented on humans." Hermóðr accused.

"_Primitives,"_ Dis insisted. "_We only ever experimented on primitives."_

Hermóðr was about to lose his cool, when suddenly an external party forced its way into the subspace video conference. Standing behind his engineering console on the Tau'ri battlecruiser _Theseus_, Hermiod the ship's technical consultant and chief engineer glared furiously across the connection at Dis.

"_Traitor,"_ His fellow Asgard spat, addressing the Vanir. "_This is Hermiod, chief engineer of the USS _Theseus_. Stop calling my friends primitives or I'll show you just how deadly these so-called primitives' weapons are."_

As he said that the _Theseus_ dropped out of hyperspace directly ahead of the Vanir ship, it's weapons primed and ready.

"_Hermiod!"_ The alarmed voice of one of _Theseus_' crew, Dr. Novak if Hermóðr recalled correctly, called out. "_What are you doing."_

"_I believe your people call this 'giving a piece of my mind', Dr. Novak." _Hermiod said, looking off screen presumably at the human.

"Hermiod, your opinion is noted." Hermóðr said, hiding his amusement. "Our cousins will be respectful from now onward won't they?"

The Vanir nodded, though he looked distinctly unhappy.

"_Good,"_ Hermiod said with a satisfied nod. "_I'll disconnect now. Good luck with the negotiations, Commander."_

With that Hermiod cut his link to the conversation all while muttering insults at the Vanir under his breath, allowing the negotiations to continue. Though the _Theseus _rather pointedly did not move from its position, nor did it power down its weapons.

"I believe that should give you a good idea of our thoughts on what your people have done, Dis."

"_It does,"_ Dis said with some surprise.

"I have another question Dis." Hermóðr said, getting to the most important detail at last. "Was it your people that created the Wraith?"

The Vanir froze for a long moment before replying hesitantly. "_It was. They are indeed an unexpected result of one of our experiments."_

Hermóðr was tempted to fire on the Vanir ship and destroy it at that admission alone, but he was a professional soldier and refrained. If only barely.

"Then by standing order of the Asgard High Council, you are under arrest for gross crimes against intelligent life." Hermóðr declared, as he signaled to the surrounding allied ships to close in and box the Vanir ship in.

"_I'm afraid we no longer accept the authority of the Asgard High Council."_ Dis declared as his ship began zigzagging through space as it evaded the fire from the Expedition fleet that sought to disable it, chief among them being the _Theseus _which chased after it like a determined hunter after its prey. "_It appears negotiations have broken down. Farewell, brother. It is good to learn that our brothers and sisters still live."_

With that Dis cut the connection, even as his ship successfully slipped through the net of Expedition ships that sought to catch it. All except the _Theseus _which continued to doggedly pursue it.

_That ship's sublight engines are beyond impressive. _Hermóðr noted with a frown as he pushed the _Hala_'s engines in pursuit of the Vanir ship only to be further and further outpaced. Even the _Theseus _was finally losing ground. Finally, the inevitable happened and as the gathered collection of Expedition forces watched in consternation, the Vanir ship escaped the effective range of their interdiction fields and jumped into hyperspace.

_Damn it all._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And another chapter is completed!
> 
> Hope you guys liked this chapter. It's a little more action packed than the last one, but nowhere as exciting as Chapter 3. That said, the revelation about the Wraith's origins here in the WoLverse was conceivably enough to make up for it. If anyone's wondering where I came up with this idea, it was born out of a conversation I once saw in the Stargate ideas thread on SpaceBattles forum's Creative Writing section. As far as I know, no one suggested quite the exact idea (i.e the Wraith were born of an attempt by the Lanteans to help the Asgard) so I'm not crediting anyone but myself with it. If I'm wrong, do let me know and I'll give credit where credit is due.
> 
> There's actually a little more to the Wraith origins in the WoLverse than were explored in this chapter but I'll save that revelation to later in the story. So if you're curious, look out for it.
> 
> Well, that's all for this chapter. Till next time, sayōnara!


	6. Opening Explorations - Suspicion

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of the IPs from which any imported elements may originate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Pegasus War**

**Chapter Six: Opening Explorations - Suspicion**

**Beta: **

* * *

"So Capt, any idea what today's briefing is gonna be about?" Yod asked as AR-15 walked into one of _Atlantis_' auditoriums. "It isn't everyday that Major Sheppard calls up so many people."

"Your guess is as good as mine, Yod." Terence told his gregarious friend with a shrug.

Which was honestly something of a surprise in itself. Usually Sheppard preferred to brief the various team leaders before leaving it to them to disseminate the details to their teams.

_So whatever has come up is probably pretty damned urgent._

"There's a surprising number of Jaffa here as well. Aren't they part of base security?" Larry noted with a thoughtful hum as they climbed the stairs midway up the auditorium steps and secured some seats. "I wonder why they are here?"

"Perhaps whatever operation the Major has in mind requires more manpower?

"It's more than that, Wrex." Yod countered. "If he needed just that, he'd have tapped the Chiropteran warriors. They're tougher in a fight than anything short of a Jaffa in Powered Armor and it wouldn't drain base security."

"Well, whatever it is. The Major is about to explain it." Terence told his team. "So shush."

They complied, turning their attention as Major John Sheppard, head of the AR Division and Expedition Head of Security, stepped forward to address them all.

"Alright, some of you might be wondering why you're here. So let me explain. As most of you probably know, due to an unusual level of Wraith attacks on my team's missions, suspicions has been mounting that there might be a spy in _Atlantis _over the past few days." Sheppard said. "With suspicion naturally falling on the Athosians and Lacuans cooperating with the Expedition, with a special focus on Teyla."

A number of disbelieving eyes turned to Teyla while a number of disapproving looks were sent towards Sheppard. Despite whatever suspicions that might have emerged, and Terence had been privy to none of them, Teyla was well liked by many Expedition members and few took kindly to Sheppard's assertion.

"The good news is that she isn't to blame. No one is." Sheppard reassured everyone. "But we do have a spy: _this thing_."

Sheppard held up a locket of some sort.

"This is subspace transmitter triggered by the Ancient Technology Activation gene which I unwittingly set off when I discovered it and returned this family heirloom to Teyla back on Athos."

"Sir, silly question," Ford asked, raising his hand to get Sheppard's attention. "But if we know what that thing is, why haven't we blown it up or tossed it?"

"Because Lieutenant, we intend to use this to capture us a Wraith."

* * *

Said trap involved bringing the locket to the last planet where AR-1 had been attacked, where the Expedition set up an ambush. Terence personally preferred if they'd chosen a better location, while the woods and ruins in the area gave a decent amount of cover. It had nothing on an urban environment and with the depredations of the Wraith and the Asurans, there were plenty of desolate urban wastelands to choose from across the galaxy.

Unfortunately, the subspace transmitter built into the locket was not powerful enough to send a signal very far. This meant the Wraith were probably using relay devices on certain planets that picked up the transmission and then alerted the nearest Hive ships. Those were the planets where AR-1 were attacked.

Since the Expedition had no idea what other worlds might have such transmitters, they really only had a handful of options. Of which, this world was the best.

"Captain, not to question Major Sheppard's judgement, but I feel I must protest the very idea behind this plan." Wrex said from where he was crouched behind a log in the treeline overlooking the ruins in front of the Stargate where they'd left the locket. "The Wraith are crafty and I have doubts that they'll fall for this trick."

"You're not the only one, Wrex." Terence confessed. "But as full of holes as it is, the plan is decent. And no plan is perfect. If we want to get a Wraith alive for questioning then this is our best shot."

"And why do we even want that?"

"Intel requested it, so we're going to oblige. It's as simple as that."

"_Incoming wormhole at the Gate."_ The voice of one of the spotters assigned to watch the Stargate reported over the radio.

_This is it. _Terence thought as he turned to check the readiness of his men. Wrex was nervous but ready, his SPAR 21 leveled downrange at the ruins where they planned to catch the Wraith in a crossfire. Glancing further afield, he saw Larry lineup his trusty Remington R4 at the ruins too. Next to him, Yod stood ready in his newly issued Powered Armor and clutching his new Rotary Staff Cannon looking ready to unleash hell.

Stripped off the typical Jaffa accoutrements, the armor donated by Albion resembled nothing more than a set of medieval European plate armor with an attached backpack that housed the armor's generator. Thanks to Dr. McKay and the Technical Sciences Department however, the AR versions of the armor had quite a few improvements over the standard variant. Not only did they have 20% stronger shields and, Yod's favorite feature, a honest-to-goodness jump pack built into the backpack that allowed limited flight through a small inertialess drive.

_I wish I had one._

Unfortunately, due to the limited number of armor available, Dr. Weir having decided to reserve enough for a standard Jaffa Powered Armor Division, only the various heavies on the AR teams were assigned one.

_At least one of us gets to have some fun, I guess? _Terence thought as he turned back to the ruins and taking aim with his own SPAR 21.

"_Incoming Wraith,"_ the Gate spotter declared over the radio. "_Three dozen drones and a commander. Wait, the Gate isn't shutting do- Darts! I repeat we have a pair of Darts!"_

The man's frantic warning was unnecessary. Not when the characteristic screeching sound of the organic arrowhead shaped Wraith fighters' engines heralded their arrival as they circled the ruins and using their transport beams, deposited what seemed like a whole company of Wraith Drones.

_Well, there goes the plan._

"Heavies, take down those Darts before they deposit anymore troops!" Terence shouted into the radio even as he began opening fire into the massed ranks of the Wraith, joining the hailstorm of bullets and energy blasts that his compatriots were unleashing from their positions whilst Major Sheppard seconded his order.

Meanwhile, Yod and the other heavies had jumped into action. Plasma bolts stitched across the clear blue sky blowing first one and then the other Dart out of the air in quick succession. The Wraith didn't seem to mind the lost of their air support though, as they charged at the entrenched Expedition forces in the woods whilst firing their stunner rifles from the hip. Their aim was crap, but the sheer number of them meant that they soon began suppressing or outright taking out the Expedition troops.

_Not helped by the fact that a good chunk of us are just armed with Zat'nik'tels._

The plan hadn't accounted for a protracted firefight with a small army of Wraith, so most of the Jaffa had been equipped simply with their Zat'nik'tel sidearms to minimize the chance of accidentally killing the Wraith commander they'd set out to capture. Unfortunately, that little oversight was biting them back in the ass hard right now.

"_Heavies, shoot up those Drones. We need to thin those numbers." _Major Sheppard ordered over the radio as a stun blast zipped just above Terence's head and he rewarded the marksman with a plasma bolt right between his temples. "_Gate team. Has the Gate shut down?"_

"_Affirmative Major," _Teyla's voice came over the radio. "_We've dialed out to prevent any reinforcements but the Wraith have deployed a group of Drones to retake the Gate."_

"_AR-6,7 and BD (Base Defense Team) F, G and H. Reinforce the Gate team, you're closest."_

Terence ignored the chorus of affirmative replies as he mowed down another three Wraith with a quick burst from his SPAR 21 before being forced to swap out his gun's depleted power pack for another. Between him and Wrex, they must've taken out at least two dozen Wraith, but they just kept coming.

"Captain, they're getting too close. We need to fall back!" Wrex urged even as he shot the lead Drone dead.

"_Hold your position! I've got it covered!"_ Yod roared over the radio as he strode out of the woods a short distance away, his Rotary Staff Cannon spinning at full speed and firing a stream of deadly plasma at the Wraith hordes cutting them down by the dozens with every sweep of his weapon. The Wraith retaliated but their weak stunner blasts just washed over the shield of his Powered Armor like water off a duck's back. Between that and the toll his gun reaped among their number, he practically single handed blunted the Drone's assault in their area.

"_Fire in the hole!" _Larry shouted as he darted forward behind the cover of Yod's shield as he tossed a fragmentation grenade into the tightly packed Wraith. Even as the small explosion and the shrapnel it unleashed took down another quintet of Drones, the wizard pulled out another from his pouch and tossed it into the by now retreating Wraith ranks.

"How in the world does Larry have so many grenades?" Wrex asked in bewilderment as he and Terence aided their teammates by shooting at the fleeing Wraith.

"Mokeskin bag," Terence explained. "It shrinks anything Larry puts in it. Allows him to carry around a literal arsenal worth of explosives on him at all times. It's a wizard thing."

"I see," Wrex said skeptically even as Larry tossed what must be his eighth grenade at the Wraith. Who by now, thanks to his efforts and those of the various Powered Armor, heavy weapon equipped, heavies had largely been driven into a full on rout. At least half their number were dead and the rest were fleeing in a disorderly mob.

"No, you don't." Terence said with a good natured grin. "I'll have Larry explain it to you later. He'll do a better job."

Wrex just nodded distractedly. He was a little too caught up in the spectacle before him. Terence couldn't blame him. For a Pegasus native, seeing a Wraith army even a small one being forced into a retreat like this was something they'd probably not even thought possible much less ever expect to see with their own eyes.

"_Major, the Commander is coming this way." _Teyla said over the radio.

"_Good, you know what to do. Stun his ass!" _Major Sheppard replied with his characteristic exuberance.

"_Will do, Major."_

* * *

When the Expedition had set up this ambush, they'd expected that their quarry would attempt to make an escape through the Stargate at some point which they hoped to be in control of at that point. They had thus moved some of the rubble from the nearby ruins closer to the Gates to provide some cover for the expected firefight that would ensue.

It was behind the cover of one of these hastily stacked stone barricades that Teyla Emmagan and the Expedition forces holding the Gate, mainly Albion and Jade Jaffa took cover behind as they battled the Wraith Commander and his personal retinue of Drones as they fought their way towards the Gate.

Ducking out of cover, Teyla raised the exotic snake shaped weapon, a Zat'nik'tel they called it, and fired an electric burst that staggered the last standing Wraith. The vampiric creature's inhuman physiology meant that the stun weapon, designed to be effective against human and near-human targets, didn't fully incapacitate it and it turned its own stunner rifle towards her. However, before it could fire at least four other Zat'nik'tel discharges hit it, finally knocking it out.

"I don't see the Commander." One of the Jaffa commanders observed as he surveyed the fallen Wraith before them.

The sight of so many disabled, possibly dead Wraith, shocked her. She'd never imagined anyone could manage such a feat. Save perhaps the equally monstrous Asurans. However, as much as she wanted to take a moment to look it awe at the achievement, she pushed the thought aside. They still had a job to do.

"I sense him," Teyla said aloud. "He's this way."

Leading a group of mixed Albion and Jade Jaffa, she cautiously crept into the winding ruins where she sensed the Wraith Commander was hiding. All her life she had possessed the ability to sense the Wraith, a gift that she'd used to keep her people safe from the Wraith's cullings as much as possible. Now though she used it for another purpose, one she found perhaps even more fitting: hunting Wraith.

"There behind that wall," Teyla whispered softly even as she raised her weapon. The men behind her did the same, as they all edged around the corner.

They were thus caught completely by surprise when the Wraith commander leapt at them from atop the wall, having scrambled up the side to set up this ambush. Using its leap to add to its momentum, it punched two of the men with such force that it sent them flying into another of the ruins' crumbling walls against which they both slumped down. The two remaining Jaffa tried to rally, raising their weapons at their attacker and firing. However, at such close quarters the Wraith's greater physical abilities showed and it easily ducked under their shots, all whilst it lashed out with a sweeping kick that sent both men to the ground.

Teyla wasn't idle as the Wraith took out the Jaffa however and aimed a shot at his head. She managed to land a hit on this shoulder as he spun back into a standing position after his kick, but as had been proven with the Drones a single shot was nowhere near enough to incapacitate a Wraith.

"You'll have to do better than that," the monster hissed as he reached forward to grab at Teyla.

She ducked under his grasp and fired a shot into its chest before rolling away from him. It hissed, this time in pain. At least she hoped so as she rolled back to her feet and fired another shot at it, though it leaned out of the way of this shot and drew his pistol sized stunner, firing a shot in reply.

Running out of the way of the shot. Teyla fired another shot of her own at the Wraith Commander. But it simply sidestepped the electrical burst and returned fire. She barely evaded the shot by taking cover behind a partially collapsed wall. Shooting around her cover, she saw that the Wraith was so focused on her that it missed the two Zat'nik'tel bursts that hit it from the back shot by the two Jaffa that it had previously kicked to the ground. The twin blasts finally took him down to his knees, but even then, perhaps in defiance he still tried to level his stunner at Teyla. Its arms were shaking however and it couldn't line up a decent shot, causing its stun blast to sail over her head harmlessly.

The trio of electrical discharges from Teyla and the two Jaffa finally took it down. Seeing this, Teyla heaved a sigh of relief and toggled her radio to make her report.

"Major, the Commander is down. I repeat, the Wraith Commander is down. The mission is a success."

"I can see that," Major Sheppard said as he walked over, his P90 trained on the unconscious Wraith. "Good job, Teyla, gentlemen."

The two Jaffa nodded, not turning their attention Zat'nik'tels away from their captive. Teyla appreciated their caution.

"Thank you, Major."

Offering her a congratulatory smile, he toggled his radio. "Lieutenant Ford, you heard Teyla just now. ETA on those restraints?"

"_On the way, sir. I'll be over there in a minute tops."_

"Hurry it up. The sooner we take 'Steve' here back to the brig in Atlantis, the better."

"'Steve'?" Teyla asked, an eyebrow raised in exasperation.

"Well, we'll have to call him something won't we?" Sheppard said with a shrug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done!
> 
> How did everyone like this attempt of my at a rendition of a canon episode? I know it's seriously truncated, but I didn't want to just give a blow by blow rewrite of canon particularly the investigation portion of the episode since it would've gone as per canon anyways. Instead, I jumped to the point of divergence and wrote from there. Unfortunately, this also means the chapter was pretty short. Sorry about that, it couldn't be helped.
> 
> On another note, please don't expect too many canon episodes being rewritten like this. Mostly their events will just be mentioned to show that they did happen but this story will instead focus more on my own original stories set in the WoLverse version of the Pegasus galaxy and Atlantis Expedition.
> 
> Well, that's it for now. Till next time, jagbyeol!


	7. The Liberation Begins - Campaign Start

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of the IPs from which any imported elements may originate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Pegasus War**

**Chapter Seven: The Liberation Begins - Campaign Start**

**Beta: **

* * *

In orbit over Lantea, Marc watched through the sensors of a _Bonaparte_ that was serving as one of the outermost picket ships as a contingent of the Expedition Fleet jumped into hyperspace.

The mixed group of Goa'uld warships, Swarm ships and assorted vessels from other Coalition races tore their way into the alternate dimension they all used for their faster than light travel as they made their way to their destination: the orbit of Belkan. It was a major trading hub in the galaxy, which through the skilled negotiation of Dr. Weir and her team of diplomats had been convinced to sign an agreement to become a trade partner to the Expedition in exchange for coming under its protection.

This was the last of dozens of smaller deployments that the Expedition Fleet had launched today though.

"The last flotilla is away," Marc said, turning to a viewscreen showing the anxious but determined faces of Dr. Weir and the rest of the Expedition's senior staff down in _Atlantis_' main conference room. Knowing he was addressing them today, he'd kept to his human form. No point causing them more upset by unconsciously intimidating them with his true form. "With this, the liberation campaign has officially begun."

"_Yes, it has."_ Dr. Weir said with a sigh. "_Let us hope that all goes well."_

"We have prepared as well as we can." Marc reminded her. "And thanks to the commendable efforts of the AR Division and the intel they've gathered during their explorations so far, we've more prepared than we'd initially hoped to be."

_That was an understatement if any. _Marc thought but kept to himself.

Initial planning for this phase of the Expedition back in the Milky Way, had foreseen them attacking the Asurans and the Wraith blind. However, with the intel the AR teams had gathered, they now actually had a fair assessment of the enemy and could thus plan accordingly.

"_Not to beat a dead horse,"_ Major Sheppard chimed in. "_You sure you shouldn't be leading one of the assaults?"_

"No, Major." Marc said with a shake of his head. "As you well know, someone needs to command Lantea's defense in the event of an enemy counterattack and coordinate our efforts from the rear. Whilst I would greatly enjoy the opportunity to take the fight to the enemy, my duty is here."

The Major gave him a respectful nod in agreement. As a military man himself, the American understood where Marc was coming from.

"_So for now we can only wait?" _Dr. McKay asked with a frown.

"_I'm afraid so, Rodney. That and hope that our forces achieve success."_ Dr. Weir told him.

"_I hate waiting like this."_

"_We all do, McKay. But it's all we can do." _Dr. Jackson informed him. "_You'll get used to it."_

"Indeed, you will." Marc agreed. "Though, if the waiting troubles you so, might I suggest you do something to distract yourself? Perhaps some recreation or menial work?"

"_I'm too hyped up for either,"_ Dr. McKay confessed.

"_Would some tea help?"_ Teyla Emmagan offered. "_Perhaps a soothing blend._"

"_I'd like that. Thank you, Teyla."_

"_It is no problem, Rodney." _Teyla said as she stood to make the aforementioned tea.

"Well, if it's not an issue with everyone, I too would like to distract myself." Marc confessed. "So may I be excused?"

"_Of course, Chevalier. Just contact us immediately if you become aware of any developments."_

"Certainly, Dr. Weir." Marc said, offering the woman a bow before cutting the comm link.

Smiling slightly to himself, he called up the data on the personal project he'd been working on the past few days. Reading over what he'd amassed, he hummed to himself thoughtfully.

"Perhaps, I should include some data on the local flora and fauna? That might prove to be the hook that convinces them." Marc said as he rubbed his chin contemplatively. "Yes, I'll do that."

* * *

Even as their overall commander was busying himself with his personal project, elements of the forces under his command were engaging the enemy. One such battle was taking place in the orbit of an unnamed world that the Expedition had classified as M2S-445.

The planet had once been home to a human civilization that had reached the Industrial age, unfortunately that had earned them the attention of the Wraith who had proceeded to attack and enslave them, reducing them to livestock even as they converted their planet into one of their farm worlds. A fate so dehumanizing that the handful of escapees from such worlds described it as a fate worse than death.

At the heart of this battle to liberate this world was Third Prime Xinyue, commander of one of the Jade Empire's strike craft squadrons seconded to the Atlantis Expedition. Flying his Tieren through the thick formations of the opposing Wraith Darts with the rest of his squadron in a wedge formation, they blasted the relatively fragile organic fighters apart with a steady stream of plasma bolts from their guns even as the enemy's pulse energy weapon did minimal damage to their shields.

"Shields at 30%," Xinyue's Mobile Suit's computer beeped in warning.

_Just in time. _The veteran Jaffa warrior thought as he and his squadron shot out of the edge of the fighter melee.

"We're falling back to let our shields recharge a little," Xinyue ordered as he vectored his machine away from the chaotic mass of dueling strike craft. While the individual bolts from the Darts' weapons were largely ineffective against the shields of their Tierens, they did stack up and fairly quickly considering the huge numbers of the craft that the Wraith employed. It was thus prudent to take periodic breaks from the fighting whenever possible to let their shields recharge.

Even as they did so, the Jade pilot kept a firm eye on the state of the battle.

_Things are looking good. _Xinyue noted as a trio of Ha'taks finished blasting apart a Wraith Hive ship and moved on to assisting a lone _Bonaparte_ that had been facing off against a pair of Wraith cruisers on its own. Even the fighter scrum was beginning to turn in the Expedition's favour as the superior quality of their equipment began to overcome the sheer numbers of Darts.

"_Prime, quick question,"_ one of his men sent over the comms as they shot down a trio of Darts that had somehow slipped through the fighter skirmish and were attempting to rush their capital ship line, presumably for a kamikaze run that they were supposedly infamous for.

Before he replied, Xinyue glanced at the readout of his shield strength on his HUD.

_51%? We'll still need to wait a while to recharge to a safe level. Time enough to answer some questions._

"Go ahead, young man."

"_I was just wondering why we don't just beam bombs directly onto the Wraith ships. They don't use shields, and without them there shouldn't be anything stopping us isn't there?"_

"Good idea, except you weren't the first one to come up with it." Xinyue said with just a hint of teasing. "Scans indicate that the Wraith has some kind of anti-transporter countermeasure. It's likely someone tried that before and that they adapted counters."

"_What a shame. If we could do that, this battle would be over already."_ The young warrior added, as they all watched a Shel'tak being consumed by a series of explosions throughout its hull ram itself into a Wraith Hive ship and taking it with it in a massive explosion. "_With less losses."_

"Indeed. However, it is sadly not to be."

"_Prime," _another of his men cut into the conversation. "_My antivirus program just detected another unknown virus."_

_That's the third the Wraith tried using this battle alone._

"Not a surprise. The Wraith like using those too. Same with the Asurans." Xinyue noted as he shot a Dart to pieces. A pack of them had slipped out of the fighter battle and were attempting to close with the Expedition capital ships, only to have the misfortune of running right into the crosshairs of his squadron's guns. "Thank the Cylons for upgrading our antiviral and malware protections."

"Shields at 80%," Xinyue's Suit's computer helpfully informed him.

_About time._

"Everyone's shields ready for another go?" Xinyue asked his men, receiving a chorus of affirmatives in response.

"Good, then let's go help finish this!" The Jade Third Prime shouted as he vectored his machine back towards the fighter melee, his squadron forming up around him.

As they rejoined the scrum, Xinyue allowed himself a bloodthirsty grin.

_Time to kill some Wraith._

* * *

While Xinyue and his men were finishing up a pitched battle against the Wraith, Captain Tommen, a particularly tall and well built Ohne and commander of the destroyer _Star Explorer _was enjoying a rather pleasant time overseeing the installation of a number of the Cylon built defense satellites in the orbit of the allied world of Belkan. The satellites alone were unlikely to be enough to fight off a sustained attack by either the Wraith or the Asurans, but it was hoped that they would at least buy enough time in case of such an attack for the Expedition to scramble a relief force.

"The third satellite just went online," Tommen's XO informed him, looking up from his console. "Only three left."

Tommen eyed the bridge's primary viewscreen himself and saw that things were as his XO said.

"Good." Tommen said, earning a sigh of relief from his nervous XO. Fighting back a sigh at how even his own people were intimidated by his size, he continued as if he hadn't noticed. "The sooner the defense net is in place, the sooner this world will be safe."

"Sir!" His sensor officer cried from his console as his console beeped out a warning. "Multiple ships matching warbook records for the Asurans just exited hyperspace outside the interdiction field."

"How many?" Tommen asked, even as the main viewscreen zeroed in on the incoming hostiles.

"At least ten ships listed as _Auroras _in the Ancient databases."

The long range sensors showed an image of the long and slender battleships. They were far longer than they were wide, possessing a light brown hull with accents of dark brown outlining sections at the front and rear of the ships. Their hulls were visually chunky thanks to being lined with arrays of weapons turrets, reinforcing plates, windows, and other systems. If the readings were correct, they were quite large being several times longer, taller, and wider than a Tau'ri _Daedalus_.

"They barely changed anything at all." Tommen noted with a shake of his head. "They look exactly like the images in the Ancients' records. What about those smaller ships?"

"Reading thirty three escorts. Unknown make. Temporarily classifying them as Asuran cruisers." The sensor officer informed them. "Sensors are reading them as roughly equivalent in energy output and likely firepower to a Tau'ri battlecruiser."

These cruisers were roughly equivalent in size to a Wraith cruiser, probably leading to its classification, and were clearly derived from an _Aurora_-class as it shared the same visually chunky design. It however deviated from the former by possessing a vaguely u-shaped bow and a pair of engine nacelles that were mounted on either side of the ship.

_Forty three enemy capital ships? Our flotilla only has twenty three capital ships of our own, which means we'll be outnumbered almost two to one. That isn't good odds._

"The enemy is deploying strike craft. They match the Minervas the Asurans deployed on Lacus. Reading about three hundred and sixty three of them. Half shielded."

"So they upgraded some of them in response to our capabilities?" Tommen mused absently. "No matter. Three hundred isn't much. At least our strike wings will have an advantage."

"Sir, the defense satellites are firing." Tommen's XO reported.

Without turning away from the tactical display on the main viewscreen, Tommen nodded and watched as bright green beams shot forth from the twin prongs of the three working satellites, each spearing straight through the closing Asuran formation. Likely not expecting the attack or perhaps underestimating the strength of the defense satellites, the Replicator formation had remained tightly packed, allowing the deadly cutting beams to easily pierce through their shields and cleave eight enemy capital ships along with dozens of their Mobile Armors apart with a single volley.

"Enemy is dispersing," the sensor officer reported even as Tommen saw it for himself on the tactical display.

It seemed they'd learned their lesson.

"Are they in range of our photon torpedoes?"

"Entering range no- Drone launch, I repeat Drone launch!"

The _Explorer _shuddered at a shield strike, but a quick glance at the shield strength indicator told him it had held well even as the engineering officer echoed the same. They'd barely received any damage at all.

_Thank goodness. _Tommen thought with a sigh of relief. _The Albionians just save our lives._

In preparation for combat against the Asurans and their deadly Drones, the Albionian engineers of the Expedition had made modifications to the shields of every ship in the Fleet that they hoped would prevent the Asuran's Drones from just phasing through them. And that had just saved his life. He'd seen footage of the destruction those Drones could cause and knew that his ship wouldn't survive more than a couple detonating against, much less _within_, its hull.

"Sensors, why are the Drones behaving like that?" Tommen asked, pointing to the majority of the enemy weapons detonating prematurely.

"It appears the Cylon scrambler is working, sir. It's causing havoc with their targeting systems."

"Correction, they _were _causing havoc." Tommen's XO observed with a frustrated growl, gesturing to how the Asuran Drones were now closing in as per normal once more. "It seems the Asurans have adapted."

"Then let's get rid of them, shall we?" Tommen declared. "Fire photon torpedoes! Full spread, directly ahead!"

At his command, the _Explorer_ launched a brace of his race's iconic photon torpedoes which detonated just ahead of the Expedition lines in bright bursts of light and deadly energy. The blasts destroyed the thick streams of Asuran Drones heading towards the allies, and even the lead elements of their incoming fighters, thus effectively blunting the entire enemy advance.

This was met with growls of approval throughout the _Explorer_'s bridge, with even Tommen himself joining in.

"No new Drone launches!" Sensors reported. "Probable depletion of enemy Drone supplies."

_Good. That was one menace dealt with._

"Enemy fleet strength?"

"Down to thirty capitals. Fighters down to a hundred and sixty seven."

"The satellites are doing a number on their capitals." Tommen's XO said with a pleased grin.

"So it would seem," Tommen acknowledged. "Have the enemy entered primary weapons' range?"

"They should shortly," Sensors reported.

"Launching their Drones early was a mistake." The XO noted. "They should have saved them till they got into skirmishing range."

"They probably thought the Drones alone would've finished us." Tommen suggested. "But whatever the reason, their mistake is to our advantage."

"Tactical? Are we ready to fire a second brace of torpedoes?"

"Launch tubes are charged and awaiting your order," the tactical officer replied.

"Fire! Let's thin out those Mobile Armors."

"Firing!"

Once more the _Star Explorer _fired a brace of its deadly torpedoes, this time into the heart of the Asurans' Mobile Armor formations. The Replicators had spread out their machines this time, so the damage wasn't as extensive. However, the torpedoes still managed to halve the remaining count of enemy machines.

"Enemy is opening fire with their primary weapons." Sensors reporting.

"They have better range than us," The XO noted.

"Not by much," Tommen replied. "And not in regards to our long ranged weapons."

"True. And with the satellites at our back, this battle is already over."

Analyzing the tactical display, Tommen agreed. The Replicator fleet though still roughly equal in strength to the defenders was rapidly dwindling in size, with every shot from the defense satellites scoring at least one capital ship down.

_Most would have retreated by now. _

Unfortunately, the Asurans weren't most beings. They were machines and they felt nothing as they pressed the attack despite their increasingly desperate odds. To them, who could easily be resurrected in a new body by their collective at a later date, there was simply no fear of death. All that mattered to them was to do as much damage to the enemy as possible.

While Tommen did not enjoy their immortality, he thought much the same.

"Time to send these machine men to their graves," Tommen declared. "Target the nearest enemy capital! We're going in!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew! Done!
> 
> This one was a tough one to write to be honest mainly because I was trying to balance an attempt at giving the battles an epic scope without making it too epic so as to overshadow later battles since they are only the opening battles. Hence, I found myself having to hold back a lot in how I presented things like keeping the perspectives limited which serves to decrease the hectic, chaotic feel of things. I'm honestly not sure how well I did, but hopefully it wasn't awful.
> 
> Well, let me know how I did in a review.
> 
> Till next time, proshchay!


	8. The Liberation Begins - New Friends

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of the IPs from which any imported elements may originate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Pegasus War**

**Chapter Eight: The Liberation Begins - New Friends**

**Beta: **

* * *

Even as the Expedition Fleet fought the Wraith and the Asurans to expand its influence further into the Pegasus galaxy and liberate more of its peoples from their tyranny, it did not forget the people it already had under its protection.

"Cease firing!" Terence shouted through the megaphone he was using to be heard over the makeshift firing range that had been set up in a cleared patch of land in the woods between the Athosian and Lacuan towns, addressing the members of the Lacuan militia that had just taken their shots. "You all know what to do, so do it! Marshals supervise!"

"They're all pretty damned good shots all things considered," Yod commented from where he was lounging on a folding chair and examining the shooting scores. "These guys might be a decent fighting force sooner than expected."

"Our peoples have ample motive," Wrex reminded his teammate. "The chance to really fight back against the Wraith and Asurans after countless generations of their oppression? Many of us would die for the chance."

"I just wish we could give you all better equipment than this," Larry said as he handled an old AK-47 that had one of the surplus firearms that had been delivered in the last supply convoy from Earth and which the Expedition were now using to equip the local militias they were organizing.

"It might not be the best weapon," Wrex agreed, clutching his own SPAR-21. "But it'll kill Wraith and Asurans, and that's enough. Besides, you're giving it to us for free. We can't complain."

"The kid's right, Larry." Yod added. "Besides, Kalashnikovs might be pretty crappy compared to the new toys nowadays but it's reliable."

"More importantly, they're easy to make." Terence chimed in. "Easy enough for most Pegasus societies to build their own and still be an improvement over their own guns."

"I suppose," Larry said with a thoughtful hum. "I do hope we can upgrade their equipment to something better in the future."

"We'll just have to wait and see," Terence replied. "Looks like the next set of shooters are ready. The marshals are escorting them into the range now."

"Right, back to work then." Yod said with a frustrated sigh.

The others just shook their heads at their friend's antics and just got back to the task at hand.

* * *

"That's an ugly ship," Yod commented with a frown as the Ancient _Aurora_-class warship that Sheppard had rechristened as the _Orion _landed on the large patch of cleared land prepared for it and the settlement for Taranian refugees it carried located just south of the Athosian and Lacuan settlements on the Lantean mainland.

The site had originally been reserved for settling those they'd rescued from M2S-445 but after discovering the sheer numbers of them, it became apparent that it was simply too small. Far too small. In the many, many, farm buildings the Wraith had built on M2S-445, they'd found almost a _million _people! A number far in excess of all but a handful of Pegasus civilizations. So instead, the area had been turned over to the Taranians whilst the survivors of M2S-445 were being housed in hastily constructed facilities on that blighted world. It was hardly ideal, but between their numbers and the conditions they'd been found in, it was decided they'd need extensive treatment, both physical and psychological, before they could even consider the option of moving them.

"Don't let Dr. McKay hear that," Terence warned his Thai friend, shaking off the morbid turn his thoughts had taken and seeking refuge in humor. "If the report is accurately he spent a lot of effort fixing it up."

"Sure, fixing it up." Yod replied with a snort, "Don't you mean getting to know that pretty local head scientist Norina Pero?"

"I'm fairly sure he managed to do both at the same time," Larry told him as they moved towards the landed ship.

The _Orion _was carrying the last of the Taranians. A people that had been forced to evacuate their world after their overuse of the geothermal powered shield built into the Ancient outpost on their homeworld led to a supervolcanic eruption that left the planet uninhabitable. Most of them had managed to escape via Stargate, but the Gate had been destroyed during the eruption midway during the evacuation. As a result, the last batch of Taranians had taken shelter in the derelict _Orion _as Dr. McKay and Ms. Pero struggled to bring it back online. It was only thanks to their efforts and some fancy flying by Major Sheppard, that they'd managed to survive.

And now here they were, safe on Lantea where their fellow countrymen, AR-15, other members of the Expedition and helpful Athosians and Lacuans were there to greet them.

"Shouldn't we help them more?" Wrex asked, as he and the rest of the team just stood at the side of one of the lowered ramps from the _Orion _watching as the refugees streamed out of the ship.

"Maybe, later." Terence told him. "Right now, we're on security detail and so we've just got to stand over here and look all serious."

Wrex looked ready to protest, but Larry shook his head as he elaborated. "It might not seem like it, Wrex, but we _are _helping them. After the trauma of what they've just been through, they need a sense of security. Us being here gives them that."

"Yeah! Us and our big guns." Yod said, waving his Rotary Staff Cannon around a little for emphasis.

The Lacuan frowned but nodded, pacified.

"That said, Cap, looks like that's the last of them." Yod said gesturing with his gun as the trickle of refugees came to a stop. "Can we go?"

Rolling his eyes at the Thai's childishness, Terence turned to him. "Not quite. Not until someone relieves us."

"Aw~! That sucks! I want to get to know some of the Taranians."

"You're just looking for a good lay," Larry said with a roll of his eyes.

"Same thing, really."

Tuning the two out as they got into argument over Yod's promiscuity. One Larry and Yod had at least once a week. Terence instead turned his attention to a pair of figures just walking down the ramp leading out of the _Orion_. One he immediately recognized as Dr. McKay, but the beautiful slender blonde with the long slightly curled hair was unfamiliar.

_I'm going to take a guess and assume that's Ms. Norina Pero._

The two were talking animatedly as they descended the ramp. Well, Dr. McKay was. Ms. Pero was just nodding along indulgently. They were at the foot of the ramp and Dr. McKay had paused to take a breath when suddenly Ms. Pero caught his face with both her hands and pulled him into a kiss. This seemed to surprise the Canadian and he froze for a moment, but quickly recovered and returned it quite passionately.

"So the good doctor finally has a found a good lady, huh?" Larry noted with amusement.

"Looks like," Yod replied with a grin. "And a damned fine looking one she is too."

"I agree." Wrex offered his two cents.

"Stow it, all three of you." Terence told his team. "Don't forget we have a job to do."

* * *

It was a busy night at the tavern that Guildmaster Trask had opened at the crossroads between the Lacuan, Athosian and new Taranian settlements. It was housed in what the Earthling or Tau'ri - The multiple names of their people was incredibly confusing - members of the Expedition called a prefabricated building. A simple building not too different in shape from the longhouses Yelana knew some other tribes in the Pegasus lived in. But that was where the similarities ended, for this building which had been miraculously put up overnight had come with indoor plumbing, heating and electricity! Luxuries few peoples in the Pegasus enjoyed but which most of the members of the Expedition took as a given and freely provided to the natives they'd taken under their wing.

"Three more Lacuan ales for table three," Yelana informed the bartender as she returned with a tray laden down with three empty mugs.

"I'll have someone else handle table three," Guildmaster Trask said from where he had been handling the money - almost entirely the hastily produced Expedition scrip that it had introduced to facilitate easy trade between the various peoples under its protection, but also a handful of old Lacuan coins, Taranian notes and some trade goods that their Athosian patrons had used to make payment - with a smile and a nod towards the door. "Entertain your guests instead."

Frowning in confusion, Yelana turned to see what he was gesturing at and couldn't resist the smile that blossomed as her brother and his team walked in. A smile that grew brighter as Captain Terence stepped inside, bringing up his team's rear.

"Go. And take this." the bartender said kindly, pushing a tray laden with five mugs of Lacuan ale towards her. "It's on the house."

"And if Captain Terence complains, again, tell him I still owe him for putting in a word to Dr. Weir about setting this place up." Guildmaster Trask told her with a grin.

"Thank you. Both of you." Yelana said sincerely, as she picked up the tray and walked over to her brother and his friends.

"Hello everyone," The redhead barmaid said as she served AR-15 their drinks. "It's on the house as usual."

Captain Terence moved to protest, but Yelana just shook her head at him and said. "Captain, do I need to tell you what Guildmaster Trask will say if you insist on paying again?"

Sighing in resignation, Captain Terence shook his head in surrender.

"Five mugs? So Old Man Trask is letting you join us tonight?" Chief Yod asked as he got up and gave her the seat next to Captain Terence.

Blushing, she offered him a smile for his generosity even as she replied. "Yes. He said I could take a break and entertain my friends for a while."

"That's nice of him," Staff Larry offered.

"I'll bet it's part of his scheming somehow," Wrex insisted. "That man is always out for his own gain."

"Of course, he is." Chief Yod said with a big gulp of his ale. "He wouldn't have become Guildmaster of the Merchant's Guild if he wasn't like that, would he? But that doesn't mean he can't be kind at the same time."

Wrex thought about it for a moment before shrugging. "I suppose you're right."

"Though, I wonder if they can cope without you." Captain Terence said surveying the busy pub. "They look very busy."

"You don't want me here?" Yelana asked, with the best impression of a kicked puppy she could manage.

"W-What!? No, no! Of course, I want you. Here, I mean. I-It's just-"

The Captain cut himself off when everyone chuckled at his expense.

"You did that on purpose." he accused.

"I did," Yelana admitted. "You looked tense."

"I was. Thank you."

"Want to tell me why?"

"Should we be around for this?" Yod asked teasingly, earning himself a reprimanding slap to the shoulder from Larry.

"I, at least, need to be here." Wrex said with a mischievous smirk. "To be Yelana's chaperone. They might be courting, but we can't have impropriety between them, if you understand my meaning. Not until they're married."

Yelana blushed fiercely at her brother's insinuation. She hadn't even thought of doing _that_. Not that she wouldn't like to, especially with Captain Terence. But only if they were married. She couldn't after all risk her husband doubting the paternity of their children.

"W-Wrex," Captain Terence, looking as embarrassed as she felt, stammered out. "W-What are you talking about? Since when have Yelana and I been c-courting?"

Yelana blinked in confusion. _He doesn't know? How could he not know!?_

"Since the festival at least," Wrex informed him without any surprise. "I know relationships between men and women in your culture is different so you might not know this, but by Lacuan customs since you and Yelana were left alone at the feast and neither of you rejected the other, the two of you have been considered to be courting. Especially since you've both been seeing each other ever since."

_Ah! So his people do not court in the same way we do. Silly of me to assume that they did._

"Unless, of course, you would like to end the courtship now and reject my sister."

"Wrex!" Yelana cried out in alarm.

That damnable brother of hers just rolled his eyes at her in response.

"No," Captain Terence said quiet after a long moment. "I won't reject Yelana."

Yelana's heart leapt at the declaration.

"But Yelana," the Captain said turning to her. "I don't know anything about your courting culture and my own world's dating scene is just so different. Urgh! What I'm saying is, I'm willing to try but I'll probably screw up a lot. So please bear with me?"

Yelana's heart had almost sunk at hearing the word 'but'. Fortunately, she'd contained her response and heard the entirety of what the Captain had to say. It was words that buoyed her hopes.

"Of course, Captain." Yelana replied happily.

Captain Terence smiled so loving at her then that she felt herself flushing in a way no man had ever made her feel before.

The moment was broken however, when Chief Yod loudly offered a toast. "To the couple!"

"To Captain Terence and Miss Yelana," Larry added.

"To my sister and future brother-in-law," Wrex said cheekily.

Blushing brilliantly once more, Yelana joined her paramour in glaring at his teammates.

* * *

"I still can't believe, you of all people, McKay would be stuck in a love triangle." John said with an amused shake of his head as he and the aforementioned scientist made their way to the main _Atlantis_ conference room for a meeting of the senior staff.

"What? You think I'm not good enough to get the ladies?"

"Honestly, yes." John told his friend and teammate. "Especially two such pretty ladies to boot."

Rodney huffed at the shot at his attractiveness but didn't refute it. That was one of the good things about the often neurotic genius, he was able to accept his flaws. Oh, he'd complain about how he didn't have them and pretend to not see them, but when push came to shove he was man enough to admit his failings.

"I didn't set out for things to be this way," Rodney confessed as they stepped into a transporter together. "Things just became this way."

"Yeah, and now you're stringing both Dr. Brown and Norina along." John said as he keyed in the command to transport them to the transporter nearest Stargate Operations.

"I'm not stringing them along," Rodney insisted as the flash of light that accompanied their transport faded and they stepped out of the small transporter cubicle together. "I just told them both I needed some time to make a choice."

"And it's been a week. Made a choice yet?"

"In fact, I have." Rodney told him, sounding confident.

"Oh?"

"I don't know if _you _should be the one to hear it first."

"True," John conceded. "But would you rather risk stumbling over what to say when you go tell them?"

"Point," Rodney acknowledged in turn as they stepped into the conference room. "Fine! I like Norina just a little bit more, okay? She understands my work in a way that Katie doesn't and it's just easier to talk to her."

Dr. Carson Beckett, Chief Medical Officer for the Expedition, groaned as he heard that.

"I'll pay you next week, Major." The Scotsman said in his thick accent.

"You were betting on my love life?" Rodney asked scandalized.

"Of course we were," Sheppard said with a grin. "We're your friends, betting about this is par for the course."

Rodney just groaned in exasperation.

"By the way, if you need help breaking the news to Dr. Brown, I'm happy to offer you some ti-"

"Save it Romeo," Rodney told him firmly. "I'll figure it out myself, thanks."

"That's good to hear Rodney," Elizabeth said with a grin. "Because I would like to start the meeting now. And Major Sheppard?"

"Yes, Dr. Weir?"

"I'll pay you later."

"Thank you, Doctor." John said with a grin as he took his seat and Elizabeth toggled the controls to close the conference room doors for some privacy, all whilst they ignored Rodney's groan at proof that even Elizabeth was in on the betting pool.

_I wonder what his reaction would be if he finds out that practically half the people on _Atlantis _was in on it too? _Sheppard mused, even as he nodded to Teyla who at his urging leaned over to talk to Rodney. _Hopefully, she can keep him from getting too distracted the rest of this meeting._

"Now then, all fun and games aside." Elizabeth said, her face now serious. "Let's begin shall we?"

There were nods all around.

"Very well, then Sergeant Bates I believe you have a report for us?"

Bates was serving as the Expedition's acting head of intelligence after his predecessor had the misfortune of getting a little too enthusiastic interrogating the captured Wraith John had taken to calling 'Steve' and got himself killed by the prisoner when he let his guard down. It had been a tragic loss, the old Jaffa master from Jade might have been an asshole, but John didn't doubt his capabilities in the slightest. His loss was a major blow to the Expedition.

"The prisoner codenamed 'Steve'." Bates said, looking at John with pointed disapproval at the name he'd given their captive. "Remains uncooperative."

_Well, it's not like he's been forthcoming with his actual name! And Steve was the first thing to come to mind! Sue me if you don't like it!_

"Thankfully though our intelligence isn't limited to just our prisoner." Bates continued. "Our long range sensors have given us a reasonably good read on Wraith and Asuran activity and it seems that they're busy fighting each other. If our analysts are correct, we struck right when the Asuran launched a major offensive so they're both still too preoccupied with that to turn their attention to us. At least, for now."

"And how long will that last?" Berlioz asked over the subspace comms from his ship in orbit. The Chevalier rarely if ever came down to the city. Though rather strangely, he had supposedly been visiting sites on the mainland lately for some reason.

"There's no way to be sure," Bates informed the Chiropteran. "But we'll keep observing their movements. That should give us a heads up when they do decide to shift their focus onto us."

"And in the meantime, we'll need to prepare for when that happens." Dr. Jackson said what everyone was thinking. "And prepare well."

"To that end," Elizabeth said into the brief uneasy silence that followed. "Let's talk about what preparations we're making. Chevalier, let's start with the Fleet. ..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And another chapter is finished! Way to go, me!
> 
> Joking aside, I hope this rather slow paced, slice of life chapter was to your liking. As I've said many times, slice of life isn't really my thing but I do see the value in it hence why I included it. I just hope it's decent.
> 
> Beyond that, I hope you liked my attempts at romance here. Readers of the other WoLverse stories have previously expressed disdain for my decision there to use love as a driving factor of the story, so I'm worried including romance here will ruffle readers' feathers again. That said, I think excising romance completely from Stargate fics would mean failing to capture the wholeness of the experience. Stargate canon is full of romantic subplots after all. I will however tone it down this time and make it less of a focus of the story as compared to the rest of the WoLverse.
> 
> Oh, and hopefully people won't crucify me for my choice of pairing for McKay. While I love his relationship with Keller in canon, I like Carson a lot more and so I'm not letting him die like in canon (even if they did bring him back as a clone) and that means Keller won't be joining the Expedition. I know she was likely one of Carson's subordinate doctors before she became Chief Medical Officer based on her saying "someone had to step up and take over", but honestly her sudden appearance fits better with someone poached from Earth so… Yeah, with Carson not dying, she won't be recruited. Thus with her out of the picture, I had to choose someone else to be the neurotic mess that's Rodney McKay's new lady love and well… I honestly don't like Katie Brown. So… Yeah, I ended up going with Norina Pero instead. At least, this means the Taranains aren't going to just be wiped out offscreen like in canon again, right?
> 
> Well, stay tuned to find out.
> 
> Till next time, abschied!


	9. The Liberation Begins - New Enemies

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of the IPs from which any imported elements may originate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Pegasus War**

**Chapter Nine: The Liberation Begins - New Enemies**

**Beta: **

* * *

"That's Genii, huh?" John asked as footage from the MALP came in through the open Stargate wormhole. "Grass, trees and not much else. Just like our allies said it would be."

"I did say I've treated often with the Genii in the past," Teyla reminded the other members of AR-1 and Elizabeth who were watching the video feed.

"I know you did," Elizabeth said placatingly. "But we needed to be sure."

"Huh, that's strange." Rodney said as he went over the readings being sent back from the probe.

"What's wrong, Doc?" Ford said as he leaned in over Rodney's shoulders to try and catch a glimpse of what had caught the scientist's attention.

"The sensors are picking up something strange," Rodney said as he typed away at his computer. "We're detecting a number of large underground cities. Advanced cities too. I'm reading emissions consistent with Naquadah generators."

Suddenly, a wireframe image of a large cavern populated by numerous buildings appeared on the side of the still incoming feed of an empty field just in front of the Stargate.

"That's certainly not the agrarian farmers we expected."

"No, it is not." Teyla agreed, sounding both surprised and alarmed. "To think they were hiding this from me and my people."

"Dr. Weir, Sir," Ford said gesturing to said image as someone appeared to cautiously approach the hovering probe. "Looks like someone finally decided to come take a look."

"Dr. Weir?" John asked, looking at the Expedition leader.

"Get the standby team-"

"AR-15," John supplied.

"Get AR-15 and go through the Gate together. Let's find out what's going on here." Elizabeth said with a frown. "If everything is alright, if they were just hiding their technology to avoid the Wraith and the Asurans, then we might have just found ourselves a valuable new local ally."

"And if not?"

"Then I want AR-15 there to back you up so you have a better chance of fighting your way out."

* * *

A couple hours later, AR-15 found themselves being given a guided tour of the Genii city nearest to the Stargate at the invitation of the locals whilst AR-1 were negotiating with the local leadership.

Walking through the cobblestone streets, well lit by a plethora of electric light fixtures, Terence couldn't help but admire what the Genii had built. An underground city like what he was seeing was like something straight out of his childhood dreams.

_Then again, considering I'm currently in another galaxy, live on an ancient city sized spaceship and fighting in a war against space vampires and killer robots, maybe an underground city isn't _that _fantastical._

The city might not be but the story the Genii spun to justify it certainly was. Apparently, they built underground to hide their true level of technology from both the Wraith and Asurans. That much Terence could buy, what he couldn't wrap his head around was how they claimed to avoid detection from both when they came by to do a scan of their worlds as part of the routine cullings of human worlds that both races were known to conduct. Apparently, they just shut down their generators and went dark. This supposedly was more than enough to keep them hidden.

Both he and Dr. McKay had both agreed that it didn't make sense. Considering the emissions they were pumping out, it would take days, maybe weeks before the telltale trace radiation of their Naquadah generators would have dissipated from into the background radiation. The Genii had tried to explain it away with talk of special shielding, but if that were the case then how did the MALP's sensors pick those emissions up at all?

So whilst Dr. McKay and AR-1 tried to answer that question and others by pressing the Genii leadership, Terence was going to take the opportunity presented by the city tour they were offered, which conveniently included one of the city's power plants, to figure out some answers.

"And here it is, Captain." Their Genii guide, a scientist by the name of Tyrus, offered as they came up to a tall, brickwork building that looked like nothing more than a square pillar. Especially with the way that it nearly reached the roof of the cavern. It almost gave the impression of supporting the whole cave to be honest. "The pride and joy of our civilization, one of the Naquadah power plants that enable us to live as comfortably as we do now."

"It's very tall," Yod noted with a frown as they were ushered across the street and into the power plant. "Is it supposed to be like that? I know our own Naquadah generators aren't like that."

"I wouldn't know," Terence confessed. "It could be a result of their design. Just because our generators look one way doesn't mean another race's would, even if they are essentially the same type. Though, I would love to ask one of the plant's engineers about that. Would that be possible?"

Tyrus looked startled, but after a moment of consideration nodded.

"Of course," he said gesturing to one of the Genii soldiers that were escorting them, who promptly jogged ahead presumably to summon one of the plant's engineers. "He'll be with us shortly."

Terence nodded and they stepped into the building. The interior at first looked like rest of Genii architecture they'd seen so far. A mix of utilitarianism mixed with elements of design that wouldn't have been out of place in the West back on Earth during the Roaring Twenties. This however gave way as they walked further into the facility to a more industrial set up. Catwalks circled all around a hexagonal room at the center of which stood a large cylinder along the side of which were plugged in a large number of pipes.

"This is the generator I presume?" Terence asked, eying the large device.

"Indeed it is, sir." A man in overalls said as he walked over along with the soldier that had gone ahead earlier. "And you must be the foreign visitors that requested an engineer answer some questions."

"They are," Tyrus said with a firm nod and a hard glare at the engineer.

"I see," Terence said with a nod as he raised his wrist computer and read the readings from its admittedly poor sensors. "Mind explaining to me how this device shields its trace emissions from detection? Because my sensors are reading them just fine right now."

"Ah, that's because the shield is not active right now."

"Why not?" Larry asked. "Surely, it would be safer to run it constantly so as to ensure that you are not detected. You'd never know when the Wraith or Asurans might do a flyby of your world."

"T-That's true," the engineer said as he eyed Tyrus nervously. "But it is very energy intensive to keep running. To save power we only activate it when we have to."

"And how would you know when that will be?" Wrex asked, frowning. "Do you have some means to track Wraith and Asuran ship movements?"

"In a sense," Tyrus cut in. "We have an extensive intelligence network that provides us with forewarning of any possible Wraith and Asuran visits to our planet."

"That doesn't make sense," Yod bluntly stated. "What you expect them to announce what they're going to do to all and sundry?"

"W-We alternate the activation of our shields!" The engineer said urgently. "It means that if we're ever discovered, only some of our cities get culled."

"Sorry for sounding repetitive, but that doesn't make sense." Yod said with a snort. "If the Wraith and the Asurans detected even _one _of your cities they'd be on the lookout for others. Just in case. And I'm betting they'd find you."

Tyrus sighed and reached for his weapon, their escorts of Genii guards doing the same even as the engineer fled.

Terence and his team weren't amateurs though and the moment that they saw Tyrus move for his gun, they'd sprung into action. Yod had popped open the hidden wrist mounted emergency plasma repeaters in his Power Armor, which he used to blast the Genii scientist and the soldier standing next to him into bloody chunks. Having handed over their weapons as part of their little tour, the rest of AR-15 were supposedly unarmed, but Larry was a wizard and they'd had the forethought to exploit that fact. As such Terence and Wrex promptly drew their previously invisible SIG Sauer P226 sidearms and neatly put down two of the Genii before they could raise their oversized rifles. Larry himself, meanwhile, had simply drawn his wand and with quiet calls of 'Stupefy' knocked one Genii solder after another unconscious with bolts of red light.

Unfortunately for AR-15, the Genii were prepared for this possibility and even as their initial escort went down, doors all around them swung open and hundreds of soldiers poured into the room. These, unlike their earlier counterparts, were armed with sleek, ergonomically designed weapons that glowed with a bright blue light.

"Get behind me!" Yod shouted as he strode ahead of the others, expanding his Power Armor's shield to absorb the dozens of energy bolts sent hurtling at them even as his teammates scurried behind him.

_They have energy weapons? _Terence thought with a grimace. _Just how many things were they lying about? Did they tell us any truths at all?_

Yod raised his wrists and sprayed the Genii with his plasma repeaters, taking down dozens even as they returned fire. At the same time, the rest of AR-15 hunkered down behind a set of stone barricades Larry had transfigured out of the slain corpses of fallen Genii and used what weapons they had at hand to cover the Thai's back.

"Surrender Captain!" An unfamiliar voice over the building's intercom. "You cannot hold out forever. Sooner or later, your friend's shield will fail and you'll run out of bullets."

"Larry?"

"I still have plenty of bullets in my pouches, sir." Larry said, after using a 'Confringo' to send a fiery orange bolt at three Genii soldiers that caused the center man to explode, showering his compatriots in a fatal rain of high velocity bone and other viscera.

"Not that," Terence clarified. "Think you can conjure up some kind of distraction or some mobile cover we can use to fight our way of the building.

"I see that you are determined to be unreasonable." The voice of the intercom said with a sigh. "You have forced my hand in this."

"Captain, what do you think he's talking about?"

"I've no idea Wrex. But I think it has something to do with _that_." Terence said gesturing to the blue wall of energy that suddenly began sweeping through the building towards them, knocking out everyone it touched.

"Larry, shield!"

"Protego!" The wizard cast hastily even as Yod backed up closer to them and stretched his own shield over the rest of the team.

Not that either did any good. The last thing Terence saw before he passed out was a blinding flash as both shields failed dramatically as the wall of energy passed over them before changing direction to sweep over them again, knocking them all out.

* * *

"What happened?" Terence asked as he groggily pushed himself up some time later in a cell in a dimly lit prison of some kind alongside both his team and AR-1.

A quick survey told him that they were all stripped of their gear and that he was the first of his team to wake up, though Major Sheppard's team were all conscious.

"You got captured." Major Sheppard told him bluntly. "Got stunned too."

"So did you," Terence shot back.

"Yeah, but we didn't get stunned." Sheppard said with a shrug. "How'd that happen?"

"They had us pinned but we were holding our own, so they resorted to some kind of stun wave. Nothing I've ever seen before."

"I've not heard of such a weapon either," Teyla added.

"Neither have I," Wrex said as he pushed himself up. "Though it feels much like that time Yod shot me with a Wraith stunner."

"Why did he shoot you with a Wraith stunner?" Dr. McKay asked curiously.

"To get him used to it of course," Yod said as he too returned to the wakefulness. "We're liable to get hit by one sooner or later."

Larry announced he was awake by smacking Yod on the knee. "Hey!"

"You left out the part where you did it because Wrex was foolish enough to make and lose a bet to you."

"There was that too," Wrex admitted, even as the sound of footsteps in the distance told them all that their captors were about to pay them a visit.

"You're all remarkably calm for being captured," Dr. McKay noted.

"We could say the same for all of you," a plump, balding Genii in what Terence recognized as a commander's uniform said as he stepped in front of their cell, escorted by a pair of Genii guards armed with their energy rifles.

"Well, getting taken prisoner is actually a pretty common thing in our line of business." Major Sheppard replied flippantly.

"Is it now?" The Genii commander said. "Well, then I'll be happy to make your lives easier and release you. All you'll have to do in exchange is they tell me everything I want to know about your so-called Atlantis Expedition."

"Oh, just go to hell. We aren't telling you anything."

"I'm afraid, Major Sheppard," the Genii commander said with a chuckle. "That _my kind _would ever end up in a human afterlife."

Even as he spoke, his clothing became a silver color and moving like liquid metal reassembled itself into the typical typical tunic and leather-like armor of an Asuran.

"Just great," Dr. McKay groaned. "We got captured by the Replicators."

"At least it isn't the Wraith," Lt. Ford said with a sigh. "We won't get eaten."

"That remains to be seen," the Asuran said with a sadistic grin. "We can always arrange something similar."

"Actually, I think we'll pass." Terence said quickly before anyone could give their captor any ideas.

_Not that I think it'll matter._

"By the way, mind telling us how much time since we were captured?"

"Expecting a rescue? I'm afraid it's not coming. Or if it is, it'll end up with the same as you or even worse."

"Just humor the man," Major Sheppard said, rolling his eyes. "What's with all you alien overlord types and being assholes?"

"Oh, very well." The Asuran said with a sigh. "It's been just about an hour by your reckoning of time."

"Then any second no-"

Terence was interrupted as he and everyone else in the cell was surrounded by columns of light and with a chiming sound, they vanished.

* * *

"Thanks for the save," Major Sheppard said as soon as they rematerialized aboard what Terence realized from a quick glance at the insignia at the side of the bridge was the Russian _Daedalus_, the RFS _Korolev_.

"Wow! That was brilliant. Did you somehow time that beam out?" Yod asked as Major Sheppard made pleasantries with Colonel Chekov, the _Korolev_'s commanding officer.

"Of course not," Terence denied with a shake of his head.

"Then it must be God's will." Larry chimed in.

"Or a joke he's playing," Sheppard added, before he turned to address Colonel Chekov again. " You Russians got us out just at the right ti-"

Sheppard was interrupted by the ship lurching in the way characteristic of a weapons strike on its shields.

"Two _Aurora_s just dropped out of hyperspace." A Russian technician answered the unspoken question after referring to his console.

"Give me maximum sunlight and power up the hyperdrive," Colonel Chekov ordered as he gestured to the AR teams to leave the bridge. "We're withdrawing."

"So I guess we can rule out the Genii as allies?" Lt. Ford asked rhetorically, as they moved out of the way of the _Korolev_'s crew as they made their escape.

"I would say so! They were working with the Replicators!" Dr. McKay said in a whining tone.

"They have betrayed all of Pegasus by their actions." Teyla said, Wrex nodding in agreement with her.

"And that makes them our enemies." Major Sheppard declared. "And there's only thing we do to our enemies."

"What's that?" Yod asked curiously.

"Simple," the Major said as the _Korolev _made the jump into hyperspace. "We take them down."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finished! That's one more chapter down.
> 
> This chapter has my take on the role of the Genii in the WoLverse Pegasus, namely as the Asurans' lackies. Considering their duplicitous nature in canon, I can totally see the Replicators wanting to recruit them to work for them. After all, the Asuran some useful things, such as their intelligence network with its wide reach within the human societies of the Pegasus. The canon!Asurans might not have needed it but their WoLverse counterparts find it useful in their protracted war with the Wraith.
> 
> Well, I hope you like my take on things.
> 
> Till next time, adiós~!


	10. The Liberation Begins - New Arrivals

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of the IPs from which any imported elements may originate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Pegasus War**

**Chapter Ten: The Liberation Begins - New Arrivals**

**Beta: **

* * *

**Trigger Warnings: mentions of Incest**

Dr. Elizabeth Weir was a having a slow day going over mission reports in her office just off the Stargate Operations Room, when an alarm sounded that had her jumping out of her seat and rushing over the short bridge that separated her office and the aforementioned command center.

"What's going?"

"A sizable Chiropteran fleet just dropped out of hyperspace at the edge of the system and are vectoring towards Lantea," Dr. Peter Grodin informed her from where he was interpreting the incoming sensor data. "We're reading friendly IFFs."

"Then why the alarm?"

"I sounded it mam," Sergeant Chuck, one of the control room's technicians, informed her. "We weren't expecting anyone. I was worried it might've been a trap or something."

"Good call," Elizabeth told him. "Now get Marc on the line. Hopefully, he'll know what's going on."

"He's already hailing us?" Amelia Banks, another of the Ops Room's technicians, said sounding surprised.

The four of them exchanged looks.

"Put him on," Elizabeth said after a moment. "Maybe he can explain what is going on."

"_Indeed I can, Dr. Weir." _

Elizabeth had to take a moment before responding though, for instead of wearing his human form like he usually did. The Chiropteran Chevalier had instead chosen to take on his true form and it was a sight that had her working hard to avoid flinching. He was the size of a large elephant or maybe a small whale with a serpentine body, multiple pairs of legs, long human-like hair, a dog-like head and six pupils in its left eye and most disturbingly human faces and limbs protruding all over the body like drowning people momentarily attempting to surface before being pulled down by others. It was a thoroughly disturbing sight and Elizabeth didn't fault the rest of her staff in the Ops Room who flinched at the sight of it.

"Then mind elaborating Commander?" Elizabeth demanded once she had recomposed herself. "Why did an unknown Chiropteran fleet just enter the system?"

"_It is my Hive, Dr. Weir. My entire Hive. As you know, they've decided to relocate to Lantea."_

"Without approval?" Elizabeth asked, her eyes narrowed. "I thought the request was still being processed."

"_My Queens have always felt it would be better to ask for forgiveness rather than permission." _Marc said with an apologetic bow. "_I don't think any of us expected my Queens to move quite so fast."_

"Dr Weir," Amelia said as she looked up from the comms station. "Urgent communique from Coalition High Command. Approval for the ShiroKuro Chiropteran Hive to relocate to Lantea granted. Hive already inbound. ETA is, uh, supposed to be tomorrow earliest."

"Is it now?"

The Chevalier was silent in the way his kind occasionally got when they communed with others of their kind through their Hivemind for a moment before chuckling.

"_It appears my Queens thought it would be an interesting joke to arrive just as the message reached you and pushed their engines hard to make it early."_ He explained. "_They set this entire thing up."_

"And the Flagisallus?" Elizabeth asked archly. "Have you got the translator working and asked for _their _permission yet? They are the natives of this planet."

"_Not perfectly,"_ Marc said with a sigh. "_But well enough to get their permission." _

_He's covered his bases it seems. Damn him!_

"Fine," Elizabeth said, letting just a tad of her anger at the situation seep into her voice. "Let your Queens know that we will hold a formal reception to receive them tonight."

"_I will. Thank you for being so understanding, Dr. Weir."_

Elizabeth didn't dignify that with a response, merely signalling to Amelia to cut the link and turning to return to her office. She had a diplomatic reception to plan on short notice.

* * *

Shirohime offered a polite smile as she and her sister beamed down to _Atlantis _with a delegation of their subjects, both Chiropteran and human.

"Welcome to _Atlantis_," Dr. Weir greeted them with a diplomatic smile of her own. One that Shiro could tell hid a healthy level of annoyance at them for their little stunt of arriving early.

_I just knew playing that trick wouldn't be worth it. _The long haired, kimono clad Hive Queen thought as she shook hands with the leader of the Atlantis Expedition.

Her choice of clothing was a nod towards the origins of the genetics with which her mothers had birthed her and her twin. Having used the genes of East Asians and their descendants, largely within what was now the Jade Celestial Empire, that they'd collected the Swarm Queens had birthed them with a slender body shape, Japanese facial features, dark brown eyes and black hair.

_I thought it was,_ Her twin and co-Queen, Kurohime, sent back as she took her own turn shaking hands with Dr. Weir. _Besides she can't stay mad with us for long. Between our Hive Fleet and the industrial capacity we're going to provide once our Hive Complex is ready, we simply bring too much to the table._

"Thank you, Dr. Weir. We're glad to be here." Her short haired sister said, looking every bit the diplomat in her expertly tailored black skirt suit and double breasted jacket.

_She looks absolutely beautiful in that. I can't wait to get her out of that outfit though. _

_Same for me. On both counts. _Kuro sent back, even as she addressed Dr. Weir like they hadn't just been flirting telepathically.

"And thank you for organizing this reception on such short notice."

Shiro sent her twin a telepathic hiss in warning, but contrary to her expectations Dr. Weir did not take the opportunity to chide them on their little stunt.

"I'm just being a good host," Dr. Weir said with a smile that would have passed for genuine if not for Shiro's enhanced senses letting her see all the small tells that illustrated her annoyance. "Why don't you two follow me and let me introduce you to my senior staff."

"It'll be an honor," Kuro said graciously.

* * *

Even as her Queens were busy getting introduced to the Expedition leadership and hopefully smoothing over any tensions that might have arisen thanks to Kuro-sama's 'joke', her Chevalier Yuki Iwasaki had slipped away from that part of the reception. This would not likely have been possible for most people, considering the high level of attention that was being paid to her Queens who she'd been escorting when they'd arrived but Yuki was not most people.

Discreetly detaching herself from the bodies of most, if not all, of the members of her Hive's party that had been beamed down, she had a large number of the butterflies that made up her true form gather in the shadow of an out of the way pillar before having them coalescing into her human form as a petite and slender teenage girl with waist-length chestnut brown hair and big brown eyes. She'd even created for herself a crimson, long sleeved, pearl detail collared dress with a scallop trim.

Examining herself with her new mostly human eyes and the hundreds of insectoid eyes of the rest of her that she hadn't used to make her human body, she nodded in satisfaction.

_Good enough. _Yuki thought to herself as she stepped out of the pillar's shadow and walked with confidence towards the reception's buffet table. At the same time, the insectoid parts of her were unobtrusively flying around the whole area and spying on everything.

_Quite a treasure trove of information I'm getting. _The Chevalier thought to herself as she joined the queue for food that had formed as soon as the formal portions of the reception were over. _None of it seems useful though._

"Why do they all look East Asian? Isn't that a little strange?" One of the Tau'ri Expedition members that Yuki knew from their personnel files was a Dr. Simpson asked her friend Dr. Hewston.

"I can answer that," Yuki said politely to the two women just ahead of her in the line.

Both scientists started in surprise and blinked at her in shock.

"You're part of the Chiropteran delegation?" Dr. Hewston asked, as she looked at Yuki searching. "I don't think I recognize you from around the city."

"You're correct. I'm with the newly arrived Hive." Yuki told them with an open smile. "My name's Yuki Iwasaki, Chevalier to the Hive Queen Kurohime-sama."

"But you weren't at the formal introductions," Dr. Simpson said with a frown.

"I was. After a fashion at least," Yuki said lifting her right hand and letting her fingers unravel into a small cluster of butterflies before having them reform. "I merely did so while riding on my Queens' clothing."

Both Tau'ri scientists and many of the other onlookers just stared at her in shock.

"How!?"

"Partially Ascended Being," Yuki said with a grin. "Oh, and we're at the front of the line."

"Right," Dr. Simpson said as she picked up plates and utensils for all three of them, passing their share along.

"So you were about to explain why your Hive looks like everyone was born in East Asia?" Dr. Hewston prompted as she began dishing some food onto her plate.

"Ah yes," Yuki said as she waited her turn. "You see we were originally located on a world bordering Jade space that had a large human population of East Asian descent whose genetic material was used by Saya-sama and Diva-sama to grant my Queens the features they possess. Plus, we also took on many of these same people as our subjects."

"What happened to your former Hive?" Dr. Simpson asked curiously as they all moved to one of the tables set out on a balcony overlooking the ocean.

"Upon deciding to relocate, my Queens handed over the world to another pair of their sister Queens. I would tell you who, but I doubt you'd be familiar with them."

"I wouldn't think so," Dr. Hewston said as they all began eating.

"And the humans that came with you?"

"A large number of our former human subjects chose to make the move to Lantea with us. It is they who made up the bulk of the formal delegation just now, Dr. Simpson."

"And you? Were you one of these East Asian descendants."

"I was born Japanese actually." Yuki confessed. "I was converted after a rather personal tragedy."

"Oh sorry, we didn't mean to-"

"It's quite alright, Dr. Simpson." Marc said as he walked over from where he'd been shadowing their Queens. "But would it be alright for me to have some time with my sister, now?

"Of course," the Tau'ri scientist said with an awkward grin, her friend nodding along.

"Thank you for that, Marc." Yuki said with a smile for her brother as she picked up her plate of food and walked with him.

"No problem sister," the male Chevalier said. "Now, I see you were sampling some of the local delicacies. Come try these tava cakes. They're delicious."

* * *

_Those cakes _had _been delicious._ Yuki thought to herself in fond remembrance as she led a small team from the Expedition forces and those of her Hive to the Lantean Mobile Drilling Platform submerged in the depths of the planet's oceans in her personal _Bonaparte_, the _Nakano Takeko_.

As they descended they'd picked up an entourage in the form of a school of curious Flagisallus who had been chattering away in their whale like song of a language the whole time about how excited they were to be getting new neighbors. However, as they neared their destination, the Flagisallus suddenly broke off and begin circling an object some ways off from the platform.

"It looks like they want us to examine it," Dr. McKay said, turning to her.

For much of the trip, the good doctor, unlike the rest of the Expedition personnel who had stayed in the ship's hold with the mission's supplies, had instead been on the bridge of the _Takeko_. All so he could use the specialized translator built to communicate with the Flagisallus to chat with one of their number that he insistently called Sam. The whole thing was both annoying and amusing all at once, and Yuki was just glad she could shift her consciousness to other parts of her body when it got too much as it had on more than one occasion.

"Scan that area," Yuki told the _Takeko_'s Pilot verbally, mainly for Dr. McKay's benefit.

"Affirmative," the Pilot replied through the bridge's speakers. "Scanning… Chevalier, it appears to be a crashed Wraith cruiser."

That had Dr. McKay shooting her a worried look.

"It's probably nothing, Doctor." Yuki reassured him. "The Wraith besieged _Atlantis _for many years. They were bound to suffer some losses in that time and we're sure to encounter evidence of that every so often.

"Like that supply ship," the scientist said with a gulp as he recalled that mess. Yuki had read the after action report herself and honestly couldn't fault him on his reaction. It was a legitimately harrowing experience.

"Chevalier, scans have detected a lifesign consistent with a hibernating Wraith Queen."

"Your sensors can detect hibernating Wraith?" Dr. McKay asked in shock.

"Of course," Yuki said with a frown. "I know the Lantean handheld scanners don't have the sensitivity for it, but the _Takeko_'s sensors are much more powerful. This is child's play."

"I knew it," Dr. McKay said with a frown. "I knew it was a matter of sensor sensitivity."

He began mumbling about possible improvements that could be made to improve the sensors for the Lantean handheld scanners, but Yuki tuned him out and instead issued orders to the Pilot through the Hivemind.

_Destroy that ship. And make sure you take out that Wraith. We can't have one running around. Not when we're expecting to build our Hive Complex right next to where that wreck is._

_Noted. Firing weapons now._

Yuki watched with satisfaction as a barrage of polarion beams lanced the crashed Wraith cruiser, tearing it to pieces. The previously circling school of Flagisallus wisely retreated and not a moment too soon as the beams seemed to have hit something important, as after only half a minute of bombardment saw the ship explode in a sizable fireball.

_Check if the Wraith survived._

_Scan already in progress… Scan complete. No Wraith lifesigns._

"I'm happy to announce, Dr. McKay, that the Wraith has been dealt with." Yuki said to the shocked scientist who was transfixed by the image of the destroyed remains of the Wraith cruiser being projected onto the central viewscreen.

"Good," the Canadian genius said with a nod. "Now let's get to that drilling platform. I want to get started on bringing it online as soon as possible."

"Likewise."

* * *

A couple days later and thanks to the hard work of Yuki, her Workers and the personnel from the Atlantis Expedition, the Lantean Mobile Drilling Platform had been reactivated and was providing a steady supply of geothermal energy that Kurohime fully intended to use to power her new Hive Complex.

A Hive Complex whose construction the Hive Queen had chosen to personally oversee.

_Now if only I could actually get around to overseeing any of that building. _Kuro thought to herself with a frown as she listened to the latest question from the source of her frustration: a large school of curious Flagisallus. They had gathered around the construction site and had been peppering her with questions the whole time, forcing her to explain every step of the process. In fact one of the whale like creatures was currently gesturing to a large structure that her Workers were building and singing out a question about what was being built.

"That's going to be a manufactory where our Workers will build things." She said, answering the latest question.

The Flagisallus sung their amazement before one of them gestured towards another half complete structure.

"And that's going to be our spaceport where our completed ships will be docked when not in use and new ships will be built."

The Flagisallus cried out in awe before nodding to another part of the incomplete Complex.

_Why did I have to lose that coin toss with Shiro?_

* * *

Even as her twin's patience was tested by their overly curious neighbors, Shirohime was overseeing her Hive's human subjects as they began laying the foundations for the first buildings of the city they were building. A city which they had already taken to calling Xīngǎng.

It was nowhere near ready for habitation and they were all still living in a city worth of large tents that had been reverse engineered from Earth's various deployable shelters. Despite these poor living conditions, the people were incredibly enthusiastic and were literally singing as they worked hard to pound the various foundations into the ground.

Shiro had been touring the site of the planned city observing her industrious subjects at work for about an hour when a gaggle of children ran up to her. Her entourage of Warrior guards moved to intercept them, but Shirohime telepathically commanded them to let the children through.

"Hello, children." She greeted them kindly.

"Hello, your Majesty." All the children returned formally.

"You were looking for me?" Shiro asked the youngsters.

"Yes, your Majesty." A particularly brave boy said, stepping forward to act as spokesman for the group. "We wanted to ask if you would like to play with us? It's more fun than watching the adults doing boring work."

_He's not wrong._

"I'd love to," the Hive Queen told them with an encouraging smile.

And that was how a Chiropteran Hive Queen ended up joining a group of human children as they played a game of catch.

_I hope Kuro is having as much fun as I am._

* * *

Seated on the bridge of the _Elizabeth _as it orbited Chiroptera, Diva bounced in her seat in excitement as she prepared to hail her daughters Shirohime and Kurohime to check in on them and the progress of their establishment of the Swarm's first extragalactic Hive.

"Diva, stop that." Saya said whilst simultaneously smacking her arm. "This chair isn't big enough for us if you're doing that."

"Then we should get a bigger chair," Diva told her twin simply.

Saya sighed in exasperation and Diva smirked. Riling her sister up, was such fun.

_My Queens, the hail has been accepted. Establishing comm link._

_Thank you. _The ever polite Saya sent back to the Worker collective that manned the bridge as the central viewscreen resolved into an image of an exhausted looking Kurohime with her head resting in Shirohime's lap as they both lounged in their bedroom that was faithfully modeled after a traditional washitsu (traditional Japanese-style room) presumably aboard their flagship the _Jingū-tennō_.

"Had a long day?" Diva asked with a grin.

"I did," Kurohime said with a sigh. "Shiro though just spent the whole day playing with our Hive's human children."

"Shiro?" Saya asked chidingly.

"I didn't realize Kuro was having it so much more difficult than I was," Shiro said apologetically. "If I did, I'd have gone to help her instead of playing around."

"And I told you I forgave you already, so stop beating yourself up over it."

"Well, at least you're getting on well." Diva said, still thoroughly amused by her daughters.

"We are," Shirohime confirmed. "And our Hive is also doing well. It's still early days but the construction of our infrastructure is progressing apace."

"Good to hear," Saya replied with a nod. "Anything you need from us?"

"Deploying the Swarmfleet to wipe out the Wraith and Asurans?" Kurohime asked half jokingly.

"You know we can't do that," Saya told her apologetically. "We need those ships here in the Milky Way."

"I know," Kurohime said. "But a girl can dream."

"Yes you can." Diva told her with a giggle. "But any more realistic dreams you want us to fulfill?"

"Nothing I can think of," Kurohime said after a moment of thought. "Shiro?"

"I think we're managing with what we have."

"Alright then," Saya said with finality. "But do let us know if you end up needing anything. So long as it's within reason, we'll send it over."

"Thank you Diva-okaasama, Saya-okaasama." The two younger Queens chorused.

"Don't forget to send us a more detailed report on the progress of your Hive later, okay?" Diva told them sternly.

"We will," Shirohime assured her.

"Good, then if there's nothing else?" No one said anything in response to Saya's question, so after a moment she continued. "Then we'll catch up with you two another time. Good night, girls."

"Good night, Mothers."

Diva waved enthusiastically even as she telepathically ordered the Worker manning the comms systems to cut the link.

"Shirohime and Kurohime are all grown up, huh?" Saya said with a nostalgic sigh. "I still remember when we bounced them on our knees."

"Of course, you do! We have perfect recall!" Diva reminded, exasperated.

"True, but now look at them! Not only are they running their own Hive but one in another galaxy altogether."

"Are you going to be like this all night?" Diva asked, her right eye twitching in annoyance.

_This is her attempt at turning the tables on me, isn't it?_

"Maybe~?"

Growling, Diva tackled her twin to the ground. "If you have the energy to be all annoyingly nostalgic about our grown daughters' time as children, then why not use it more productively?"

"What do you have in mind?" Saya asked coyly.

Ripping open her twin's blouse, Diva leaned down between her mate's exposed cleavage to whisper her reply. "Why making new daughters for us to spoil of course."

"Let's get started then," Saya replied eagerly as her arms came up and grabbed the back of Diva's dress and tore it open.

Smirking at getting her way, Diva allowed herself to give into her unquenchable lust for her sister and let her passions guide her into yet another night of memorable lovemaking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back, you nymphomaniac vampires! We missed you so!
> 
> Joking aside, I do intend to minimize the mention of the sexcapades the Chiropterans get up to mainly by minimizing the number of scenes I give their Queens. Their Chevaliers are alright, but as established in the rest of the WoLverse, Chiropteran Queens are sex obsessed as befits a race just recently back from the brink of extinction. This is the solution I came up with for the issue of some reviewers saying all the sex was detracting from the story. I couldn't bring myself to go against the whole conceptualization of the Chiropteran Queens as a bunch of nymphomaniacs after all, not when it had very logical reasons.
> 
> Moving on, hope you like the cameo by Saya and Diva. Unlike the rest of the WoLverse, they won't be key players so the occasional cameo is about all you'll see of them in this fic. Same with Nimue, sadly. But I can't see any of them being interested enough in the affairs of the Pegasus to become intimately involved. Providing material support to the Atlantis Expedition and the ShiroKuro Hive is about the limit of what they'll do.
> 
> Speaking of the ShiroKuro Hive, do let me know what you think of them. Do you like them? Hate them? Let me know!
> 
> Well, that's all I have to say this time.
> 
> Till next time, lā k̀xn!


	11. Enemy Counterattack - The Storm

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of the IPs from which any imported elements may originate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Pegasus War**

**Chapter Eleven: Enemy Counterattack - The Storm**

**Beta: **

* * *

"Damn, it's been storming for days," Amelia said as she reported for her shift at the Stargate Ops Room. "How long is this going to last?"

"If the meteorologists are correct then a few days at least," Peter informed the technician who groaned in dismay at the news. "Apparently a superstorm of this magnitude only happens once every couple decades, so once it's over we'll be in the clear at least for the foreseeable future."

"At least, we have the shield up to keep the rain out?" Chuck offered.

"And more importantly keep us safe from the lightning," Elizabeth reminded him as she looked up from the readings on the city's shield that Peter had been showing her.

"Yeah, I wonder how the folks on the mainland are dealing with it?" Amelia asked idly as she logged into her workstation. "Hope they got those theater shields up and running ahead of time."

"Don't worry about it," Elizabeth reassured her. "The last report I got from the mainland said that they managed to get shields up in time."

"Thank goodness," Chuck said with a sigh of relief. "I would've hated to see what would happen if they didn't."

"With a storm of this intensity? It would have been catastrophic." Peter opined.

"Yeah, I can ima-"

Amelia's comment was cut off by Chuck's serious shout, "Unscheduled incoming wormhole!"

"Raise the shields!" Elizabeth shouted, even as shields sprang to life all across the Gate Room. Theater shields installed by the Expedition formed protective barriers akin to shimmering panes of glass around the various rooms overlooking the Gate, even as smaller bubbles popped into being around the various gun emplacements they'd installed in strategic positions around the ancient device just as the men operating the weapons readied their weapons. All the while, the various non-combat personnel in the area got out of the way.

"The Gate shield is not responding!" Chuck shouted in alarm.

"It's a virus!" Peter shouted from where he was furiously typing away at the computer he'd plugged into one of the preexisting consoles built into the Ops Room. "It's hacked into the Ancient systems and shut down the Gate shield!"

"How did it get past our cybersecurity?" Elizabeth shouted as a barrage of blue energy bolts came flying out of the just stabilized wormhole. "No, we can work that out later. Delete it!"

The soldiers guarding the Gate held their nerve, hunkering behind their shields they held their fire. Shooting through a one-way wormhole would be utterly futile.

"Incoming wormhole is coming from the Genii homeworld." Chuck informed Elizabeth calmly despite the situation.

"I'm trying Elizabeth," Peter said as he typed away at his keyboard like a madman. "I've managed to contain its spread to a handful of systems including communications and the Gate's shield, but it's locked me out of those. It'll take some time."

A number of spherical objects were tossed through the Gate and landed amidst its defenders. This was followed by a series of blinding bursts of light and novas of blue energy, both of which the shields protected the Expedition members from.

Following this flurry of grenades a group of Genii soldiers holding what looked like ballistic shields rushed through the Gate, all of them were mowed down by the bullets and plasma bolts the defenders rained on them in short order.

"You think they'll give up after that?" Amelia asked into the quiet as the last of the shield carrying Genii were killed.

The rippling of the wormhole as something new came through the Gate was answer enough.

* * *

"The first wave is being slaughtered," Genii Commander Acastus Kolya told the two Asurans who he had told by the leader of his people, Cowen, to take orders from as the desperate transmissions from the men he'd just ordered through the Gate came through. "The Atlanteans have set up formidable defenses around their Gate."

Koyla himself didn't particularly like the idea of taking orders from someone completely outside the military hierarchy. However, he understood his people's position. They enjoyed their high standards of living and their very existence to the favour of the Asurans. If they displeased them in any way, that favour could easily be withdrawn and they'd be destroyed. For all their lofty claims to be protectors of the galaxy, the Asurans were just as much genocidal monsters as the Wraith.

"We are aware," one of the Asurans said, turning to his compatriot and nodding, prompting the other man to move towards the war machine they had brought with them. "We shall assist you with our Clavis."

Koyla nodded and turned to one of his subordinates, a young blonde woman whose father had died at the hands of the Atlanteans.

"Lieutenant Sora Tyrus, you'll lead the men. Follow closely behind the Asuran machine and use it for cover."

"Yes sir," the younger officer said with a crisp salute before hastily moving off to take command of the second wave.

She'd have to move fast, already Koyla could see the Asuran weapon moving towards the Gate. It would be a tight fit, and anything less than absolutely perfect flying when going through the wormhole would likely lead to disastrous results. However, Koyla had seen the Asurans pull off that level of precision time and time again. This time was no exception as the vehicle smoothly flew through the Gate.

* * *

Elizabeth couldn't help the terrified gasp that left her as she saw the menacing head of an Asuran Minerva make its way out of the Stargate. Intellectually she'd known the Replicator Mobile Armor was capable of the feat, but to see the machine actually do it and within the _Atlantis _Gate room no less, was something else entirely.

Fortunately, the soldiers manning the Gate's defenses didn't share in her shock and reacted immediately by opening fire on it. Their fire striking its shield which flared white at the sustained punishment it endured. The Minerva didn't take this battering unanswered however and its rotary plasma cannons spat out its own hailstorm of return fire even as its twin beam cannons focused their fire on the lone Heavy Staff Cannon that had been sat up in the middle of the stairs leading up to the rooms overlooking the Stargate. Its fire likewise had the defenders' shields flaring to life in vibrant friery orange hue, thus turning the Gate room into even more of a light show than the exchange of energy bolts already made it.

"Genii troops are coming through the wormhole!" Amelia warned, turning Elizabeth's attention away from the continuing firefight between the Minerva and their defensive gunners. Sure enough, dozens of Genii soldier were streaming through the Gate under the cover of the Asuran Mobile Armor.

Even as she took a glance the Minerva's shield finally failed and it was promptly blasted into scrap, but not before taking out the Heavy Staff Cannon and the brave Jaffa manning it. Despite its demise however its smoking, ruined chassis still provided enough cover for the Genii to continue pouring through the wormhole.

"Get the response teams in there!" Elizabeth ordered, even as the gunner manning the Browning M2 closest to the Gate hastily shifted its fire to fending off the Genii soldiers closing in on his position. "Get them in there now!"

* * *

Even as _Atlantis _found itself repelling invaders, Captain Tommen found himself in command of an Expedition garrison fleet over a previously liberated world of Anava and doing the same.

"That looks exactly like _Atlantis_," Tommen's XO commented as they looked over the data of the small Asuran fleet flying towards the planet. At the heart of which was the aforementioned duplicate of the Ancient capital. Escorted by only by a pair of _Aurora_s and six cruisers, it was a paltry fleet.

_In terms of capital ships we outnumber them both in number and tonnage. Unless that cityship is significantly more powerful than _Atlantis _was before we upgraded it, this is a suicide attack. What are the Replicators thinking?_

"Readings indicate that it's an exact replica to the pre-refit _Atlantis_." His sensors officer reported.

"The humans say that imitation is the highest form of flattery." Tommen said thoughtfully. "And we know that the Asurans admire their creators a great deal. It should be no surprise that they would do something like this. They already make use of replicas of the Ancients' _Aurora _battleships."

"True," His XO agreed with a considering growl.

"Are we still unable to contact _Atlantis_?" Tommen asked his Comms officer.

"No sir," the junior officer reported with a frustrated growl. "I've managed to contact Commander Berlioz however, but he is also unable to raise _Atlantis _either. He suspects the superstorm might be affecting communications."

_The timing of this attack is suspicious. Are the Asurans somehow related to our inability to contact _Atlantis_?_

"Then what are _his _orders then?"

"The same as our standing orders, sir, defend Anava."

Tommen nodded. As expected then.

"Drone launch!" The sensor officer said urgently. "Small number! Spread out."

"At this range?"

"Their testing our defenses," Tommen answered his XO. "I take it the scramblers aren't working and they're too spread out for a photon torpedo spread to take out?"

"Negative on both counts, sir." The tactical officer reported with a frown.

_Perhaps they're here to test the effectiveness of their newest upgrade to their Drones? Atlantis type cityships are exclusively armed with Drones after all..._

Tommen just growled in frustration. These Asurans were truly an annoying foe to face. They adapted to their countermeasures incredibly fast and were always coming up with new upgrades to their own weapons with the same alarming speed.

_Well, let's see them adapt to this. As the Cylons said, if you can't beat them by going high tech then fall back on low tech solutions._

"Order all ships to fire flak batteries at full dispersal! Make the defensive fire as thick as possible!"

_Let's see your Drones get through a storm of plasma like that! I don't care how agile there are, they can't evade all of the fire we're putting out._

The defensive measure had meant retrofitting their fleet to double, and in the case of some ships quadruple, their point defense arrays but if it proved effective against the deadly Asuran Drones than it would be more than worth it.

"Flak screen is working. Minimal Drone strikes across the fleet." Sensors reported even as the _Explorer _shuddered from one such strike.

"Good," Tommen said, a vicious smile that showed his sharp predatory teeth spread across his face. "Bring us in. It's time to engage the enemy!"

* * *

Terence had been having a nice, relaxing day in his room on _Atlantis _reading some of the manga releases for the week when the alarm for an attack on the base was sounded. Jumping to his feet, he and every single one of the base's military personnel rushed to their stations.

It was thus mere minutes later that he was fully geared up and rushing with his team towards the Gate room to help out the guys in charge of Gate defense.

"Just our luck that we got rostered to be on response team duty for the Gate room just when we're attacked through the Gate." Yod complained as he struggled to keep his speed down so the rest of the team could keep pace.

In his Power Armor, the Thai could easily outpace the entire team and it must've been hell on him to slow down. Especially, since they could already hear the vicious firefight raging in the Gate room. The corridor ahead was empty save for a skeleton crew of tense Jaffa manning the secondary fullback position just ahead of the doors leading into the Gate room.

"The on duty response teams must've already gone in," Larry noted as they raced past the Jaffa.

"And the fighting is still ongoing." Terence added. "This is serious."

_It had to be if the enemy hadn't yet been repelled by the time a reserve response team like us reaches the scene._

As if to prove his point, a Genii soldier ran into the corridor chased by Staff bolts.

"Shit!" Wrex cursed as he stopped and struggled to raise his weapon at the enemy.

"I've got him!" Yod replied, using his Power Armor enhanced abilities to level his Rotary Staff Cannon without even breaking stride and proceeding to reduce the unfortunate target into red mist.

"Come on, Wrex. Let's go." Terence waved the Lacuan over from where he'd stopped to try and take a shot as he reached the door to the Gate room. He was turning away from the sight of his teammate jogging over, only to be met with the glowing muzzles of a pair of Staff rifles pointing his way..

"You got him?" One of the Jaffa asked without preamble, as he lowered his weapon.

"Yeah," Terence said with a sigh of relief as the other Jaffa likewise lowered his rifle.

"You have Power Armor? Good." The other Jaffa said. "Get in there. We need to push them back against the Gate. Your Power Armor will help."

"Show me where?" Yod said, hefting his gun into a ready position.

"Find the group with the Power Armor. They're bunching up for the push."

"The rest of you, follow me." The other Jaffa said, not even flinching as a stray Genii plasma bolt scorched the wall above the doorway they were all clustered around. "My team could use a few more Staffs."

"Lead the way, gentlemen."

* * *

As Terence and his team joined the fight for the Atlantis Gate room, Xinyue was likewise launching in his Tieren from his mothership alongside his squadron to join the battle in the Anavari system. As he shot away from the Ha'tak where he'd been stationed, he noted with bemusement at the sheer volume of point defense fire that surrounded the Expedition fleet. The amount of fire each ship was unleashing was well in excess of what they would've outputted even in the fiercest battles back in the Milky Way.

_All this just to keep the enemy Drones at bay? If I didn't know any better I'd call it excessive._

Unfortunately, he did know better. And he could only hope this proved sufficient.

"Prime, are you seeing that?" His XO said as he raised his Mobile Suit's free arm to gesture at an unexpected sight within the closing ranks of the Asuran strike craft.

"Looks like someone decided to copy our Mobile Suits," Xinyue said with a chuckle even as he ordered his sensors to get a read on the opposing MS that his computer informed him was being tentatively classified as Vulcans.

They were sleek humanoid Mobile Suits with a purple crystal built into their chests. And if what the readings he was getting on their engine emissions were anything to go by, these machines were incredibly agile and capable of maneuvers that the Tieren would struggle to emulate. Their weapons didn't seem to be a joke either. They carried a variety of handheld weapons, ranging from rifles to large Drone launchers, but their pilots seem to mostly favour a lance with a built-in plasma repeater that they paired with a shield with twin built in Drone launchers.

"They certainly do like their Drones, huh?" One of his subordinates asked with a nervous chuckle. "What happened to heavy plasma mortars or if they really want the range, good ol' missiles?"

"Too primitive for them." Xinyue replied jokingly.

"Probably," his XO concurred.

"Look alive, warriors! Here they come!" Xinyue said over the comms to his whole squadron even as he jinked out of the way of a Drone fired his way whilst firing off a set of his countermeasures.

The Drone thankfully was caught in the near range burst and prematurely detonated just outside his shield. It lost a good chunk of its strength but it held. Unfortunately, his weakened shield caught the attention of one of the enemy MS which shot towards him like a rocket, its lance lowered as if to skewer him even as it spat plasma bolts at him whittling his shield down even more. It thankfully seemed to be out of Drones, because Xinyue wasn't sure if he could take another hit from one of those.

_I can decide how fortunate I am after I live through this. I still have a battle to fight._

Recovering his wits, he counter charged the enemy and the two MS began flying around each other in a spiralling pattern as they flew at each other from across the battlefield all whilst shooting at each other relentlessly. Occasionally, a Drone would shoot Xinyue's way but more aware of their threat now, he made liberal use of his countermeasures to surround himself in a cloud of flak each time his computer sounded the alarm for one of those deadly weapons even coming close to him.

"Shield strength at 38%," his computer reported to him after only a couple minutes of the deadly dance.

It should have alarmed Xinyue, but he was too busy savouring victory to care. While the strength of his own shields were on the low side, those of his enemy had shattered completely. It tried to raise its physical shield to protect its cockpit as a last line of defense, but the Heavy Staff Cannon of Xinyue's Tieren easily blasted right through both it and the machine's torso beyond.

Smiling to himself triumphantly as he watched his opponent explode into a rapidly dispersing cloud of debris, Xinyue vectored away from the heart of the fighting. With his shields as weak as they were, he needed a breather to let them recharge. That this gave him the time to review the state of the battle was just a nice bonus.

"Strike craft losses are high," Xinyue noted with a frown. "Those Drones their MS carry are likely the reason for that. But beyond that we'll win this."

This statement was punctuated by the _Atlantis_ replica that served as the Asuran's flagship disintegrating under the weight of fire from three Ha'tak, the _Star Explorer_, and a pair of Chiropteran _Bonaparte_s.

* * *

"Mam! The men are preparing to push the Genii back towards the Gate!" Amelia informed Elizabeth as she got off the comms from whoever was in charge of the forces down in the Gate room. So many men from the Expedition's various military forces had gotten involved, that for the life of her Elizabeth couldn't figure out who was commanding them at the moment.

"He's sure he has enough Power Armor?" Elizabeth asked, looking away from the firefight. "I'm not going to send our men into the wall of fire that the Genii have set up without shields."

"He assures me that he does." Amelia said, before clutching at her headset as someone else hailed the Ops Room over the comms.

With things as hectic as it was Elizabeth had muted her own comms. She simply couldn't process the rapid bursts of chatter that the troops were using to coordinate their efforts. Instead, she'd delegated the responsibility to Amelia who had experience as a comms operator in a combat zone before joining the Expedition.

"What is it?" Elizabeth asked the other woman.

"It's the Reetou commander, mam. He says he's got a plan."

"Did he elaborate?"

"He tried, mam! But was cut off by enemy fire. All he managed to say was that he wanted to take advantage of something."

Elizabeth frowned. "Relay that to the men down there. And tell the commander that he has a go for that push. Peter?"

"Almost there, Elizabeth!" Peter said as he looked up from where he and Chuck had been working on regaining control of the Gate shield.

Elizabeth turned away from them and looked down at the chaotic firefight in the Gateroom. Using the wreckage of the Minerva as cover, the Genii under the command of a pair of Asurans and a couple of their own officers had set up a strongpoint just ahead of the Gate's wormhole from where they were unleashing a wall of deadly fire that had forced the Expedition soldiers back. At the same time however, they also could not advance as the unrelenting fire from the remaining defensive emplacements and a steady stream of reinforcements from the rest of the city kept them pinned.

_They must have lost a hundred men already! _Elizabeth thought as she saw the literal mounds of Genii corpses that the fight had left in its wake so far. _Why would they throw their lives away like this? Especially for the Asurans of all people!?_

She was pulled from her thoughts when the huddled mass of Power Armor wearing Expedition troopers and shielded Chiropteran Warriors that had been hiding out of sight of the Genii and their Asuran overlords in the far corner of the Gateroom, suddenly stormed towards the enemy. Their shields flared a brilliant orange as they weathered the Genii counterfire, returning their own deadly fire in return. The sudden, powerful charge seemed poised to shatter the Genii lines even as their officers struggled to rally their men.

These efforts were undermined when the younger of the two Genii officers' head exploded into red mist from what Elizabeth recognized as the discharge of a Reetou weapon. One of the Asurans turned to the source of the shot, along with a cadre of the Genii troops and unleashed a hellish barrage but managed no more than sorching the already battle damaged section of the Gateroom's ceiling. It was into this distraction that the second Reetou sniper took his shot. Sadly, whoever it was wasn't as good a marksman as its counterpart and instead of killing the grizzled older Genii officer, he merely managed to blow off a significant chunk of his left shoulder. It wasn't exactly a fatal wound but it definitely took him out of the fight.

"I've got control of the Gate!" Peter shouted suddenly just as the charge of Power Armor troopers smashed into the Genii lines.

Their leadership dead or incapitated, the Genii couldn't muster a coherent response despite the attempts by the Asurans to rally them and they were soon overrun. A task aided in no small part when the Asurans themselves were handily silenced by keron disruptor blasts reducing them to piles of silver dust.

"Now! Lower the shields!" Weir ordered, and almost immediately the Gate shield snapped into place cutting off reinforcement for the invaders.

The invasion of _Atlantis _was over.

* * *

Smeadon, one of the senior leaders of the Manarian people, smiled to himself as he read the latest reports on the Atlantean victory over the Asurans.

_It seems our new trade partners and protectors do indeed live up to all they claim to be. _The old man thought to himself as he took a sip from the fine alcohol, something they called whisky, that he'd been gifted by an Atlantean trade delegation. _Though they really should have better security around the encryption for their communication codes. It was child's play to get access to it._

Smirking at the thought, he brought his glass up to his lips to take another sip of the wonderful drink when suddenly the window that dominated the length of his office exploded and a swarm of butterflies flooded into the room. Not that the insects were limited to that one entrance, even as he was crushed under their collective weight he caught enough of a glimpse to see that they'd come in from _every _conceivable opening.

"By the time I'm done with you, Mr. Smeadon," The butterflies said as they coalesced into a beautiful young woman with waist-length chestnut brown hair that has a dark brown hue color and big brown eyes. This unnatural phenomenon was terrifying enough but the malicious little smile she wore was somehow even more fear inducing. So much so, he barely registered as men, probably the rest of her team, surged into the room.

"I will know _everything _that you know." The now fully formed woman said as she caressed his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done!
> 
> Hope you guys like my version of the canon The Storm and The Eye story arc. Was including the space battle unnecessary? Was the action in the Gate room okay? Tell me what you think would you?
> 
> So the Asurans got their own Mobile Suits, huh? Well, they always did like to imitate others, so I had them doing the same here in regards to the Expedition's machines. For those who would like a clearer image of what the Asuran Vulcan looks like, it's basically the GNX-803T GN-XIV from the Gundam franchise.
> 
> Well, that's it for this chapter I think. So, till next time, adjö!


	12. Enemy Counterattack - The Hoffan Tragedy

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of the IPs from which any imported elements may originate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Pegasus War**

**Chapter Twelve: Enemy Counterattack - The Hoffan Tragedy**

**Beta: **

* * *

"Major Sheppard," The Coalition Secretary General, a Ohne by the name of Vardan, addressed the Major in front of a full briefing room occupied by the Expedition senior staff and all the AR teams not currently out in the field. "Do you know what you've done?"

Despite him speaking to them all the way from the Tokyo back in the Milky Way, the high fidelity of the subspace comm link allowed everyone to see his clear agitation. Admittedly it wasn't hard when Ohne expressed their anger by showing their shark like teeth.

_Damn him! _Terence thought, unfazed by the Secretary General's anger. _Does he really need to dress the Major down like this in front of all his men? This is just uncalled for!_

"I did what I thought was right," Major Sheppard said defensively.

"And morally you would be correct," the Secretary General conceded. "But it was foolish of you to let petty morality lead you to alienate an entire planet, lose us further access to a potentially very potent weapon, _and _leave the Hoffans defenseless in the face of likely extermination by _either _the Asurans or the Wraith. How does being able to stand on a moral ground measure up against _that_?"

_That's an unfair judgement! He wasn't there to see the Hoffans willingly condemn half their own number just to develop a weapon against the Wraith. Unless he was, he's got no room to judge._

The Major wasn't as sure of his own judgement as Terence was and looked away. "It doesn't."

"No, it does not." The Secretary General affirmed before turning away from the Major to look at the man's immediate superior instead. "Now, Dr. Weir, I have orders for you."

"What is it, Secretary General?"

"Send another team to Hoff and see if you can salvage our relationship with them. One that excludes AR-1. I think they've done enough damage on this front already."

Without waiting for a reply, the irate Ohne cut the comms link leaving the _Atlantis _briefing room in an uneasy silence.

"You've all heard the Secretary General's orders," Dr. Weir said after a moment, cutting into the silence by doing so. "I personally disagree with him on this matter. However, I can also see the merit in what he wants us to do. Beyond that, he is our superior and we are bound to obey his order. As such, Captain Tan!"

"Yes mam!" Terence said, standing and snapping to attention.

"You are to pick another three AR teams to join your own and lead them on a return expedition to Hoff. You leave within the hour. Any questions?"

"No mam!"

"Good, then go get geared up."

"Yes mam!" Terence said and offering one last salute, rushed off to prepare for his new mission.

* * *

It was a half hour later and Terence was discussing with the other team leaders what their plan of action would be.

"So we'll just be armed escorts for the diplomats in Lt. Kemp's team?" Captain Alicia Vega of AR-6 asked. "We have four teams on this, isn't that a little much for just that?"

"We didn't exactly leave on the best of terms." Lt. Kemp of AR-9 pointed out. "We might need the extra firepower to dissuade the Hoffans from acting on any animosity Major Sheppard might have accidentally stirred up. And I know my guys will appreciate the backup. They get nervous without it."

"I can imagine," Terence said with a chuckle. "Hopefully, that's all we'll be this time around."

"Here's hoping. I _need _an easy mission for a change. My team's run into hostile action for our last _six _trips offworld." Lt. Peter McCray of AR-13 said, earning grimaces from his fellow team leaders.

"Well, I can't guarantee anything." Terence told him. "But fingers cross-"

"_Hoffan Mission to the Gate room immediately! I repeat! Hoffan Mission to the Gate room immediately!" _Chuck's familiar voice roared over the city's intercom.

The team leaders exchanged a look.

"This is going to suck," Lt. McCray said with a groan as they all rushed towards the Gate room, joining their various team members as they too made their way out of the ready room.

Gesturing for the others to wait for him on the deck in front of the Gate where to his surprise a group of technicians were preparing a MALP, Terence ran up the stairs and into the Ops Room.

"What's going on?" He asked Dr. Weir who was reviewing something on a laptop. "What's with the MALP? Didn't we give the Hoffans a subspace radio to keep in contact?"

"We did," Dr. Weir said. "Which is the problem. We tried hailing them over the comms to let them know you were coming Captain. Unfortunately, it seems subspace in the Hoffan system is being jammed."

"Which means they're probably under attack." Major Sheppard said as he climbed up into the Ops Room from the service staircase at the back of the room.

"Yes, so we need your men ready to move out the moment the MALP shows us its safe."

"We're ready when you are," Terence told Dr. Weir while gesturing to the four AR teams all geared up and waiting for orders down in the Gateroom.

"Peter, is the MALP ready for deployment?" Dr. Weir asked, turning to Dr. Grodin who looked towards where Dr. Radek Zelenka was working on the machine. The Czech flashed him a thumbs up and Dr. Grodin turned to nod at the Expedition's leader.

"Dial Hoff and send it through." Dr. Weir ordered.

At her command, Chuck began the dialing sequence and the probe sprang to life and lifted off the ground to wait patiently as the Stargate locked and the wormhole stabilized. The moment it did, the machine moved through the crowd of gathered AR teams and into the portal.

"Receiving telemetry," Dr. Grodin said, now joined by Dr. Zelenka who was looking over his shoulder even as they projected the MALP's visual feed to a nearby projection screen.

The MALP's camera panned over the barren concrete walls. A little unusual since during the Expedition's previous visits, the Gate had been located in an outdoor area some distance from the Hoffan capital city. Besides that, everything seemed normal. Except…

"Where's everyone?" Dr. Zelenka said, giving voice to everyone's thoughts.

As if in reply to the good doctor's words, the MALP's shield flared a bright orange as it was hit by a blue energy bolt.

"It's under attack!" Dr. Grodin stated the obvious. "Activating defensive measures."

"Those looked like bolts from Genii energy weapons," Major Sheppard noted, even as the MALP turned to engage its attackers with its plasma repeater. It wasn't even a particularly powerful version of the weapon, there having been no point to equip what was essentially a disposable robot with one, but it nevertheless did the job of blasting the pair of soldiers firing at it to pieces.

"And those were Genii uniforms," Terence noted. "Dr. Weir, your orders?"

"Go!" Dr. Weir ordered. "Save who you can. Secure the Gate and I'll send whatever reinforcements I can."

Terence nodded and sprinted back down the steps to the waiting teams even as Dr. Grodin shouted at him as he passed, "The Gate on the other side is clear!"

"For now," Terence muttered unhappily under his breath, before raising his voice to address his men. "Change of orders. Hoff has been attacked by the Genii and possibly the Asurans. Our new mission is to rescue who we can. We're going into a hot zone so be ready for anything."

Receiving affirmatives from everyone, he led them through the Gate and into the warzone on the other side.

* * *

"Captain Vega, do you read me?" Terence asked as he looked out over the ruins of the Hoffan city that stood outside its Gate facility. It had been torn apart by street fighting which if the bright flashes in the distance were any indication were still ongoing.

"_Loud and clear, Tan. What's your sitrep?"_

"We've just neutralized the rest of the scout party that those survivors we found were talking about. No other hostiles in the vicinity. Looks like they were telling the truth when they said that the Gate being moved here was a secret."

Thankfully, it seemed that the Genii hadn't actually managed to take the Gate facility. At least not entirely. The ones who had stumbled on the place were what looked like a scout platoon. Far too few to secure the large facility, they'd just been exploring what to them looked like an abandoned military base.

That abandoned bit had been the genius idea of the base's commander. He had intended to pretend that the facility had been deserted so as to lure the incoming Genii scouting party and take them out before they realized the Hoffans were still there. Which they very much were. They'd even deliberately not used the metal barrier to plug their Stargate like they usually did to prevent hostile incoming wormholes. Apparently, leaving the plug off was part of the plan to trick too. Supposedly, it would make the Genii think that the survivors had Gated out and so cause them to let their guard down.

It wasn't a completely stupid plan, but it did leave much to be desired.

_I really want to bash that commander's head in, gift horse or not. That plan of his is why we managed to Gate in._

Setting aside his annoyance, he continued briefing Vega whose team he'd left to secure the Gate. "The whole city's been overrun, probably the rest of the planet too. We're going to need backup and plenty of it if we're going to help with it."

"_I've already got Alison dialing _Atlantis. _We'll have backup pronto."_

"Let's hope so," Terence said with a frown. "In the meantime, I'm sending McCray and his team out to secure whatever we can get on the Hoffan drug."

"_You sure that's a good idea?"_

"The Hoffans said the Genii came by ship didn't they and that they don't seem to know that this is the Gate facility? Then we still have a chance. If they knew the Gate was here-"

"_They'd swarm the place. Okay, so we have a window of opportunity. You think it's enough?"_

"The lab where the drug was developed isn't far. I think we can risk it."

"_If you're sure..."_

"I am," Terence said shooting Lt. McCray and his team a look as they waited for his order nearby. In reply, they all returned confident nods.

"_Then go for it."_

"You heard all that," Terence told the young lieutenant. "Good luck."

"Thank you, sir." The younger officer said as he snapped a salute, before leading his team off into the ruins.

"Captain, shouldn't we send people out there to search for survivors too?" Wrex asked as they kept watch for any Genii that might be headed their way together from behind the cover of a fallen statue of some famous somebody.

"I would love to, Wrex." Terence said with a grimace. "But we don't have the manpower for it. I don't think we have enough to hold this facility as it is, even with the locals' help."

Said help took the form of a company of local riflemen who were even now spread out around the entrance to the Gate facility and providing overwatch.

"And yet we have enough men to send out to retrieve the Hoffan drug?"

Terence winced. "Orders are orders, Wrex. The Coalition thinks the drug will be useful, after some further refinement, as a weapon against the Wraith. We can't leave here without it, not if we can help it."

"And we can leave millions to be exterminated by the Genii and the Asurans instead?"

'I don't like it either, bu-

"_Tan, you there?" _Vega called over the radio just then.

_Nice timing._

"Tan here, over. What's up?"

"_Dr. Weir just sent us a company of the Jaffa Power Armor Division. She says to use it wisely."_

"That's just what we needed! I hope you thanked Dr. Weir for me."

"_I did. But you can do so again when we get back. Vega out."_

"_Will do. Tan, out."_

Smiling slightly, Terence toggled his radio. "Jaffa commander, can you hear me?"

"_I hear you, Captain. This is Fourth Prime Kel'ead. Where do you need us?"_

"You guys up for some search and rescue in a hostile battlefield?"

There was a pause and Wrex turned to look at Terence with surprise, but the Captain just smiled.

"_We will save as many lives as we can." _Kel'ead said. "_I swear this on the name of the Mother Empress."_

"Thank you." Terence thought gratefully.

* * *

He was far less grateful an hour later when he and his men found themselves under a full scale assault by Genii forces.

"Kel'ead, where are you?" Terence asked as he ducked under the dubious cover of the increasingly battered fallen statue. "They have a tank out there. So if you can hear me mind doing something about it."

Said tank looked like someone had taken a World War Two era M4 Sherman and swapped out its barrel for a plasma cannon. It was a mix of old school engineering and contemporary high tech particle manipulation, and an all round pain in the ass.

"_I hear you, Captain," _Kel'ead's voice crackled over the radio. "_I also have Lt. McCray, his team and a number of Hoffans with me. I see the tank as well and I have an idea. I will handle it, so long as you can provide me with some covering fire. My shields are too depleted to withstand the Genii's inevitable fire long enough to take it out on my own."_

"You've got it." Terence sent back, wondering idly just what the Jaffa had in mind. "You heard the man. Everyone cover fire in three. Two. One!"

Edging out of cover himself, Terence fired his SPAR 21 in full auto. Sending plasma bolts flying downrange with reckless abandon, adding to the storm of fire from his lines that kept the enemy suppressed.

Taking advantage of the Genii taking cover, a lone man in Jaffa Power Armor walked out from a ruined house just behind the Genii positions and leveling his Staff Cannon at the Genii tank took shot after shot as he walked relentlessly towards it. Realizing that they had an enemy at their rear, the Genii commanders hastily ordered some of their men to engage him. Bolt after blue plasma bolt slammed into his shield, but he marched on. Even when the tank finally exploded, he kept going simply shifting his fire onto the largest groups of Genii he could find. Even when his shield failed, he kept going shooting his weapon relentlessly at the enemy all the while. It took the Genii literally dismembering him with their sustained fire to finally silence him.

They were so focused on Kel'ead's distraction, that the Genii completely failed to notice as a trio of other Power Armor wearing Jaffa blasted a hole through a thin section of their lines and kept it open as an AR team shepherded a group of civilians across the no man's land between the two sides.

"Give them covering fire!" Terence roared over the radio as he depressed the trigger of his weapon as quickly as he could, sending rapid bursts of plasma at the startled Genii. "Don't let Kel'ead's sacrifice go to waste. _Make sure_ those civilians get to safety!"

All across the Expedition lines, their guns barked with a ferocity that was palpable. Completely disconcerted by events, the Genii barely returned fire with many choosing instead to simply dive under cover and avoid the fury of the Atlanteans.

It wouldn't last though, so with their men recovered and the enemy pressing them hard, it was time to go.

"Retreat! I repeat, retreat." Terence ordered. "Fall back into the facility and start Gating back to _Atlantis_!"

"_Bloody finally!" _Terence heard Yod comment before he tuned him out to hail Lt. McCray.

"McCray, you have what we need?" Terence asked over the radio.

"_I think so Captain. We just grabbed what samples we could. Not sure if we got the right ones to be honest. The place was crawling with Genii, so we were kinda in a rush. Found some of the Hoffan scientists as we were leaving too. Not sure whether they'll be helpful, but every bit counts, huh?"_

"Yes, it does." Terence said, barely holding back from snapping at the kid for babbling. It wasn't his fault that his nerves were likely shot from the fighting. His were as well.

The sight of an Asuran _Aurora_-class descending from the skies, parting the clouds as it did, did nothing for his nerves. Nor was he calmed by how it took to hovering over the city and began disgorging Asuran mobile weapons.

_Looks like either they got tired of waiting for the Genii or they've dealt with whatever kept them busy after dropping their pawns off._

He didn't need Wrex cursing next to him to tell him it was bad news.

"Vega! Any chance of any Expedition _ships _coming in as reinforcements?"

"_No, why?"_

"'Cause a Asuran _Aurora _just sho-"

As if his day couldn't get any worse, he had to cut himself off as a trio of Wraith cruisers burst out of the clouds too and promptly opened fire on the Asuran ship.

"Make that an Asuran _Aurora _and three Wriath cruisers. Oh, and they're shooting at each other." Terence said standing at the entrance looking in stupefied horror at the scene transpiring before him.

"Enough sightseeing, Captain." Larry said as he rushed pass, grabbing hold of Terence's arm and dragging him along. "Let's go."

Terence could only offer his teammate a grateful nod as they joined the mad rush of Expedition personnel fleeing Hoff's fall.

* * *

Back on _Atlantis _a few days later, Terence was having lunch with his team when Commander Berlioz of all people suddenly sat down at their table.

"Commander Berlioz, to what do we owe the honour of your presence?" Terence asked with an arched eyebrow, earning himself looks of surprise from his team.

_What!? So I'm not particularly formal most of the time, it doesn't mean I can't be when I want to be._

"No need to be so formal, Captain Tan." The Chiropteran Chevalier said with a chuckle. "As to your question, I'm here to inform you of what the fleet sent to investigate what happened to Hoff found. I thought considering your last mission, that you would like to hear it as soon as possible rather than wait for the formal report."

"I would," Terence said grimly. "What did they find?"

"I'm sorry to inform you that the planet was glassed by Asuran particle weapons." Berlioz said with a serious face even as Terence's heart dropped into his stomach.

He'd known it was likely, but to actually hear the confirmation… It was something else altogether.

"Fortunately," Berlioz continued, offering Terence a sympathetic smile. "It seems that not everything about the mission has been a bust. You'll be happy to know that after the screenings with the za'tarc detectors we can confirm that several of the Hoffans you saved were indeed part of the research team that developed the drug that doomed their world. With their help, the Technical Sciences Department is confident they can formulate a new version of the drug. A version that _doesn't _kill half the humans it is given to but which remains an effective weapon against the Wraith."

"That's better than nothing, I guess." Terence replied glibly.

_Like that will make up for the destruction of an entire people?_

"I know it's hardly a consolation at all," Berlioz admitted. "But in war we must take our victories, no matter how small, wherever we can find them."

Terence just nodded.

Berlioz eyed him searchingly for a long moment before standing and giving his shoulder a comforting squeeze.

"You're a good soldier, Captain. And more importantly a good man. Don't let your regrets consume you. Or it might just destroy all that goodness within you."

With those last parting words of wisdom, or was it warning, the Chevalier walked away leaving behind a pensive Terence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done!
> 
> Wow! This was an experience to write. Justifying certain things like why the hell was Gating to Hoff in the middle of a Genii attack possible was a chore, while others like Fourth Prime Kel'ead's heroic last act was a fun ride. As a result, I can't really describe my thoughts on this chapter in a holistic way.
> 
> What about you guys? What do you think about it? Drop me a review and let me know.
> 
> Well, that's it for this chapter. Till next time, proshchannya!


	13. Enemy Counterattack - The March on Lantea

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of the IPs from which any imported elements may originate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Pegasus War**

**Chapter Thirteen: Enemy Counterattack - The March on Lantea**

**Beta: **

* * *

The planet classified by the Atlantis Expedition as M1K-439 or more colloquially among its members as Planet Waterfall was an uninhabited world with a pleasant climate, a large number of mountains and extensive river networks that together created an abundance of the waterfalls that had led to the world's nickname.

It was also a perfect place for the Expedition to give the local militias they'd organised some training in combat in forested environments. Something that could only be done offworld as the Lantean mainland became increasingly densely populated, especially with a steady stream arrivals from various newly liberated worlds that wished to settle on what they were calling the 'capital world of the Atlanteans'.

Today, it was the turn of the Lacusan militia under their newly elected leader Captain Kevan Solos who were using the world's woods for a spot of simulated combat under the guidance of AR-15 and a hodgepodge of off duty Expedition security personnel including Lt. Ford from AR-1.

"They are learning fast, aren't they?" Ford said to Terence as he joined AR-15 for lunch at a table in the simple mess hall that the Expedition had thrown up for the facility.

"That is to be expected," Wrex said with pride. "Many of my people have some experience in the woods and/or with combat. In addition, the chance to actually _fight back_ against the Wraith and the Asurans is a great motivator."

"Yo man, I didn't mean any offense." Ford said as he raised his in an appeasing gesture. "It was a compliment. Honest."

"I understand, Lieutenant Ford. I too was simply making an obser-"

Wrex was cut off when Terence's radio crackled loudly. "_Major, this is Lt. Adachi at the Gate."_

"Go ahead, Lieutenant, what's up?" Terence who had been newly promoted for his leadership on Hoff said, silencing his lunch companions with a look so he could focus on the radio. With the base commander and his XO both still not back from overseeing exercises in the field, Terence was in the unenviable position of temporarily being the highest ranking officer on base and thus the de facto stand in commander.

_Really shouldn't have let the commander con me into standing in for him just so he could set off early. _

"_We've got an unscheduled off-world activation."_

"Have you raised the shield?"

"_Negative, sir. The shield is acting up. I've got a tech working on it, but-"_ The Japanese soldier was cut off when the sound of a Wraith stun bolt crackled over the radio. "_Wraith! We've got Wraith! I repeat, we're under attack by the Wraith!"_

Terence was already jumping to his feet and rushed back to the armory, shouting as he did.

"Wraith attack! Everyone to battle stations! Wraith attack!

In a scene of what could only be called controlled chaos, the hundreds of people in the mess hall abandoned their meals and began making a beeline to collect their gear and weapons. To the credit of their training, there was no hesitation. Be it Expedition soldier or Lacuan militiamen, they all moved with an enviable professionalism.

"Yod, when you get done armoring up I want you to link up with the other Power Armored heavies. Tell them all to back us up only when you guys are _all _ready." Terence ordered as he grabbed his weapon and a few spare power cells from the armskote manning the armory. "Give the Wraith a healthy surprise."

"Gotcha, Major." The Thai said as he hurried into the armory to get started on the relatively time consuming process of getting armored up. "The Wraith won't know what hit them!"

"Wrex, Larry, with me." Terence said as he grabbed the tactical vest offered to him by another armskote and hastily clipped it on. "We'll go relieve the Gate Defense Teams. Lt. Ford, you go organise the off duty volunteers into teams then come back us up."

"And everyone else?" Lt. Ford said as he too hastily donned his equipment.

"Everyone else has their standard procedures to follow. They know what to do. You won't have to worry about them."

Lt. Ford nodded. "Good luck, sir."

Terence returned with a nod of his own before turning and began sprinting towards the sound of fighting around the Gate, Wrex and Larry following behind him.

"Ops Room, you have command. I'm entering combat." Terence barked into his radio as they neared the clearing in the centre of the base the Expedition had built where the Gate stood. He barely heard their affirmative reply even as he raised his SPAR 21 and opened fire.

"Lt. Adachi looks like he's almost overrun," Larry noted as he fired his Remington R4 into the mass of Wraith pouring through the Gate, killing a pair of them with the new high explosive rounds that the Technical Sciences Department had developed for use against the highly durable enemies in the Pegasus galaxy.

"Almost? Looks like he already is." Wrex countered as he too opened fire on the swarms of Wraith even as they started to split off from the pack trying to finish off the Gate Defense Teams and head towards them.

His observation wasn't wrong either. The poor Japanese lieutenant and his men from the SDF were trapped in their little islands amidst a sea of Wraith Drones. Only their small shield bubbles and the blistering fire of their Howa Type 04 plasma assault rifles and Sumitomo M2 12.7mm heavy machine guns keeping them from being killed.

"Larry, light some fireworks!" Terence ordered as he took out a trio of Drones closing on their position with a quick burst.

"I don't have my mokeskin pouches," Larry said with a grimace. "But I do have my wand! Bombarda Maxima!"

At his incantation a beam of white light surged into the throngs of Wraith Drones and caused a powerful explosion that sent at least a half dozen of them flying. That this was the time that whoever was fixing the Gate shield finally decided to turn it on was just icing on the cake.

"Push! Push them back to the Gate!" Someone shouted and Terence and his team joined up with the other Expedition forces around the area as they stood and let loose a withering wall of fire as they pushed the Wraith back.

"_Leave some for us!"_ Yod's enthusiastic voice cried out over the radio as he and the other Power Armored troops on site rushed into the fray, their heavy weapons reaping a heavy toll on the remaining Wraith.

Within a few more moments of hectic fighting, it was over. The Wraith were wiped out and all that was left was the mop up.

"Headcount!" Terence ordered as the men milled around the battlefield checking the bodies and finishing off any wounded Wraith. "Check that your buddies are alright!"

"Sir!" Lt. Adachi's strained voice shouted from a distance away. "Over here! You'll want to see this!"

Terence exchanged a look with Wrex and Larry even as they moved together to see what had the young Lieutenant in such an uproar. They figured that out as soon as they got close. Lying prone on the ground was an unconscious Lt. Ford with a dead Wraith lying atop of him, its right hand pressed into the American soldier's chest. It was clear that the vampiric alien had died while feeding on the lieutenant.

"Get that thing off him!" Terence ordered. "And dial _Atlantis _ASAP! We'll need Doctor Carson on this."

* * *

The next day, much to Terence's annoyance, he and many of the higher ranking members of the Expedition were called into a briefing by the senior staff. He'd much rather have spent his time following up on those injured in the Wraith attack on M1K-439 or, even if it was a harrowing experience each time, consoling the loved ones of those who'd died. Unfortunately, he had no choice and so joined the dozens of other commanders of the Expedition, either there in person or via subspace, inside one of _Atlantis_' smaller auditoriums in what the Cultural Studies Department had just recently confirmed, but everyone had long suspected, was the cityship's former school district.

"Alright, that's everyone," Dr. Weir said as the last few stragglers arrived and got seated. "I'll get straight to the point here. The Wraith are on their way to attack Lantea in force."

This was met by shocked, nervous mutterings which were quickly silenced as Dr. Weir continued.

"Both our long range sensors and other intelligence assets," here Dr. Weir gestured to the Expedition's newly appointed Head of Intelligence, Chevalier Yuki Iwasaki, who nodded in grim confirmation of the Doctor's words. "Have confirmed that the spate of Wraith attacks that began yesterday is part of a full scale offensive against us. They are secondary attacks designed to pin down our forces and compromise our defenses for the assault on Lantea itself."

Dr. Weir nodded to Dr. Grodin and the feed of Atlantis' long range sensors was projected onto the auditorium's primary viewscreen.

"As you can see that assault consists of a sizable fleet that is currently en route to Lantea." Dr. Weir said gesturing to the cluster of hostile red triangles travelling down a dotted line indicating their projected course that terminated directly on the Lantean system. "We're already reading twenty Hives and four times that many cruisers, but their numbers continue to grow as other Hives and their escorts converge with the main force. As such, we cannot be certain how big the fleet will get by the time it arrives in Lantea in two weeks."

"_That is already a sizable force for the fleet stationed in Lantea. A garrison that, I remind everyone, was drawn down to reinforce the worlds attacked yesterday."_ Captain Tommen of the Ohne destroyer, the _Star Explorer, _noted over subspace from where he and the _Explorer _were conducting garrison duties over a liberated planet. "_It seems the Wraith's strategy to divide and conquer, as the Tau'ri would call it, is working. Perhaps we should consider recalling some of the ships out on garrison duty outside Lantea?"_

"_And leave our liberated friends defenseless?" _Hermóðr asked with a narrow eyed glare at the Ohne from his deployment at the fringes of liberated space. "_Many of the liberated worlds have a fraction of the defenses that Lantea does. Recalling even some of the ships tasked to their defense would leave them incredibly vulnerable."_

"_No,"_ Tommen said, sounding chastised. "_But what other options do we have?"_

"We will not be recalling any ships," Chevalier Marc declared from where he stood next to Dr. Weir. He rarely ever came down to _Atlantis _from his ship, but it seemed this was a big enough of an emergency that he'd decided to make an appearance in the flesh. "We came here to liberate this galaxy. We will not back down from that task even slightly simply because we're in a pinch. Our commitment to protect those we liberated stands."

"So we fight heavily outnumbered?" The Fleet Lord in charge of the Albion contingent of the Expedition Fleet asked. "That does not seem wise."

"It isn't," Dr. Weir agreed. "That's why we've called for reinforcements from Coalition High Command. As we speak, a relief force is being mustered back in the Milky Way. If all goes well, they'll arrive before the Wraith."

"The only way they'll manage that is if-"

"Yes, Fleet Lord." Marc said looking at the surprised Albionian Fleet Lord with a grin. "It seems your High Command has finally decided to second one of their precious Mel'taks to our cause."

That buoyed everyone. The presence of even one of those formidable Albionian dreadnoughts would greatly increase the Expedition Fleet's capabilities. Heck, it alone might be enough to even the odds against the coming Wraith attack!

It was thus no surprise that after that announcement the briefing continued in confident spirits as they discussed the specific details of what they'd need to do when the attack finally came. Terence participated as professionally as he could, even while the worry over the casualties of the Wraith attack on M1K-439 continued to gnaw at him throughout.

Thus, he made an effort to catch Dr. Carson Beckett, the Expedition's Chief Medical Officer, as they finally dispersed for the day.

"Dr. Beckett!"

"Ah, Major Tan, I was expecting you." Dr. Beckett said as he stopped in the hall to allow Terence to catch up to him. "I'm guessing that you want to ask about Lt. Ford's condition?"

"Yes, Doctor."

"Well, I'm on my way up to the Infirmary right now. Walk with me and I can fill you in?"

Terence nodded and fell into step with the good doctor.

"Lt. Ford is currently under observation due to the high dosage of the enzyme that the Wraith injected into his system when it tried to feed on him."

"Enzyme?" Terence asked, confused. This was the first time he'd heard of such a thing.

"Aye, we've only just discovered this but the Wraith seem to inject an enzyme into their victims so that they will remain alive during the feeding process."

"Sounds nasty," Terence said with a frown. "Does it have side effects or something? Is that why Lt. Ford is under observation?"

"A good number as far as we tell so far. Enhances a human's strength and endurance, probably so they can survive the stress of being fed upon. But most troubling, it's highly addictive."

"How addictive?"

"Enough that even though Lt. Ford really only had a small dose, he's already addicted."

"But there are other survivors of Wraith feedings and they aren't addicted."

"They didn't have a Wraith start feeding and just drop dead midway through." Dr. Beckett countered. "It seems the feeding is stressful enough that it burns away the enzyme from the victim's system during the process. In Lt. Ford's case, the enzyme stayed in his system."

"So what can you do for this addiction?" Terence asked as they reached the infirmary.

"Don't worry, Major. We have a plan." The Doctor assured him. "We'll wean Ford off the enzyme using a synthesized supply. And if that fails, well, cold turkey is another option."

Terence frowned. Neither option sounded pleasant. Then again he wasn't a physician, so he could only trust Dr. Beckett on this.

"Alright, I trust you Dr. Beckett."

"Thank you, Major. I assure you that Lt. Ford is in safe hands."

With that final reassurance, Terence offered the Scotsman a nod and turned to leave. He had plenty of things to do. Meetings with loved ones of soldiers lost under his command to conduct, letters to even more to write. And after that, a battle to prepare for. He had to leave Lt. Ford to the care of Dr. Beckett and his medical staff.

* * *

It wasn't just Terence who was busy preparing for the incoming Wraith attack. Everyone in the Expedition was, in their own ways, doing the same. As part of these efforts, Royen found himself on a world known as Dagan with Dr. Gardner and Dr. Jackson along with a large force of troops to recover a ZPM that according to _Atlantis_' database might be hidden on the world.

It was the hope of the Expedition senior staff that its recovery would significantly boost Lantea's defenses. Thus the large commitment despite the circumstances to the task. Even Royen who rarely ever left _Atlantis _had been sent on the mission, simply on the basis that he was the Expedition's foremost expert on power sources. An honour that Dr. McKay most adamantly protested was not the case, though he'd retracted his complaints when asked if he was indeed the better expert as he claimed whether he'd like to go to Dagan instead.

_That man is insufferably childish at times. _Royen thought to himself as he lounged back in his chair in the tent they'd set up over the dig site for the Quindosim Brotherhood's vault. Said Brotherhood had been the ancient order that had originally possessed the ZPM, or as their teachings described it 'safekept it for the Ancestors', and had hidden it away prior to its destruction by a Wraith culling.

Bored out of his mind, Royen sighed as he surveyed the many banks of sensor equipment that they'd brought along and were now sitting idle.

_We shouldn't have brought all this equipment along. _Royce, his human side, commented as they looked at the equipment.

_And how would we have known that the ZPM was inactive? _Enjol countered. _Better that we brought the equipment and not need it than need it and not have it._

A true statement but it did not take the sting out of all the wasted effort in bringing along so much hardware only to find it useless simply because what you were looking for was offline and thus practically inert and undetectable.

Instead they'd had to rely on Doctors Gardner and Jackson as they deciphered the puzzles that the Quindosim Brotherhood used to guard the ZPM alongside the native scholar named Allina and her team. Thankfully, it hadn't been too hard and it had only taken a day or two to track down the underground chamber that served as the Brotherhood's vault. Now all they needed to do was to unlock it and extract the ZPM.

"My lord," one of the Jaffa attached to the mission suddenly shouted as he rushed into the tent. "Our men at the Gate just hailed us over the comms. They report a large Genii force led by at least a dozen Asurans have forced their way through the Gate and are heading here."

"**What!?**" Royen boomed in the voice of the Goa'uld as he stood, before calming himself and continuing in a more normal tone. "Ready our men for battle. I'll lead them myself."

"Yes, my lord. I will relay your orders immediately." The Jaffa said with a salute before rushing off to do as he said he would.

"Magus Royen, what was that about?" Dr. Jackson called up from the entrance to the underground vault.

Walking over to the opening into the earth, Royen quickly told everyone below what was happening which to his surprise engendered quite an unexpected reaction.

"Sanir!" Alina, the leader of the local helpers, hissed angrily as she spun to face her second in command.

"They offered us a great reward, Allina." The other woman said desperately, eyeing the hostile looks she was getting from everyone. "They agreed to let us keep the treasure if we just-"

"Silence," Allina cut her off. "I don't want to hear it."

"As interesting as her betrayal is," Royen said, before things got even more heated down there. "I would just like to encourage you to hurry up. The sooner we have the ZPM, the sooner we can leave. If you work fast, perhaps even before the Asurans and their lackeys arrive."

"We'll work as fast as we can," Dr. Gardner replied.

"Good, then I'll leave you to it and see about buying us some time. Good luck, doctors."

* * *

As Royen left, Daniel and the rest of the scholars inside the underground chamber that served as the Quindoism vault, returned to the final puzzle keeping it locked with a renewed vigour. Despite that, they weren't making any headway even as the sound of fighting began drifting to them from the surface.

"This is a numerical puzzle of some kind, so the answer to it must be a number that was significant to them in some way but what?" Daniel thought out loud as he paced. "Quindoism… The Brotherhood… The Brotherhood of…"

Daniel had an epiphany.

"The Brotherhood of Fifteen!" He and Sarah said at the same time.

"Fifteen is their sacred number!" Sarah said excitedly as she and Daniel moved to the pedestal where the numbered tiles were located.

"Yes and the numbers one to nine can be put in a three-by-three grid so they add up to fifteen in every direction." Daniel continued, as he and Sarah began rearranging the tiles accordingly. "That should do it."

"Who wants to try activating it though?" Sarah asked, an excited gleam in her eyes.

"Ladies first," Daniel said, stepping out of the way for his girlfriend.

Smiling sweetly at him, Sarah confidently placed her hands into the hand shaped indentations on either side of the pedestal with the tiles. As soon as she did, a section of the large mandala-like wall carving on the wall in front of them opened up and a tray housing a ZPM slid out.

"We did it!" Sarah cheered, even as Daniel moved to remove the ZPM from its hiding place.

That was however exactly when things went pear shaped as Allina and her team suddenly drew a host of hidden weapons and took a number of Expedition members hostage including Sarah who had a gun put to her head by aforementioned local woman.

"Allina, what are you doing?" Daniel asked warily, even as he fought a smile at how Sarah's only response to being taken hostage at gunpoint was to raise an eyebrow.

"I am merely recovering the treasure my predecessors gave their lives to guard."

"What do you mean?"

"Ten generations ago after a severe culling, the Brotherhood was destroyed. We found their writings and decided to try and complete the task handed down to us by the Ancestors. I am the new Master Handler." Allina declared proudly, unaware of how Sarah was rolling her eyes at her pretentiousness. "We thank you for helping us find the Potentia, but it must go into hiding again."

"_Atlantis_ might fall if we don't take this ZPM back." Daniel said in an impassioned plea. Something he only managed by calling on all his skills as a diplomat. Sarah was being very distracting. "Then it would serve no purpose. Do you really think the Ancestors would have wanted that?"

"None of us can know their plan."

"They don't have a plan. I know. I've lived among them."

"Ah, your fanciful lies," Allina said with a scoff. "I was wondering when you would bring them up. You weren't fooling anyone Dr. Jackson. You do not return from Ascension."

_Shows what you know._

"What's going on down there?" One of the soldiers up top fighting the Asurans and Genii asked, and Allina gestured at Daniel meaningfully while cocking the gun pointed at Sarah in a clear threat.

"Nothing!" Daniel shouted obligingly to the soldier. "Just admiring the ZPM is all."

Any reply that the soldier might have made was drowned out by the sound of a nearby explosion, and his voice faded as he ran back to the fighting. "Hang tight down there! We're having some trouble up top but we'll be done shortly."

"You think the Ancestors planned for that? The Asurans running amok? Getting defeated by the Wraith and chased out of the galaxy? More importantly, do you have a plan to get out of here? " Daniel said even as he looked at one of the hostages and winked, receiving a nod in return.

Too caught up in her grandstanding, Allina and her men didn't even notice the silent communication.

"The Potentia will be put into hiding on another world." She declared with determination. "And when the Ancestors return our people will be greatly rewarded."

"I can't let that happen." Daniel said with a frown. "Now!"

At his shout, he charged Allina and knocked her gun out of the way. The woman managed to get a shot off, but he'd pushed her arm away from anyone first thing and it went wide. As they struggled, Daniel had to admit she was strong and proving a challenge, but he hadn't been part of SG-1 for years with nothing to show for it. Between his hard earned combat skill and a little helpful kick from Sarah that disarmed the crazed woman, Daniel quickly managed to subdue her.

Looking up, Daniel surveyed the outcome of his little gamble.

There were a few injuries among the Expedition members but none serious. The same for the now restrained members of the New Brotherhood. One of which, Daniel was pleasantly surprised to find was being held at gunpoint by Sarah of all people.

"Let's bind these people," Daniel said completely ignoring the ranting about retribution by the Ancestors coming from Allina. He was too busy hiding a smile at Sarah's show of bravado. "And go see if the guys upstairs need our help."

"Yes, sir." The Major in charge of the marines in the chamber said with a salute before coming over with a pair of zip ties to secure Allina.

They had barely finished locking the ties around her wrists when suddenly a purple energy wave swept over the chamber.

"What the hell was that?" The Major asked.

"I don't know but whatever it is," Daniel said eyeing the ZPM that was now glowing an ominous red. "I think it was bad news."

* * *

"That's the last of their Minervas," Royen noted with satisfaction as the Mobile Armor's flaming wreck crashed into the Genii's rear lines and the Rifleman that killed it strafed the enemy formation with its weapons as it flew overhead. They fired their weapons at the machine but their light arms simply splashed harmlessly against the Mobile Suit's shields before it landed and joined its two other compatriots as a makeshift heavy weapons platform and rained even more deadly plasma over them.

"It's fortunate, we had the forethought to bring some Riflemen with us," the Third Prime in charge of the troops said in reply. "We'd have no proper counter to those Minervas otherwise."

"I'd beg to differ," Royen countered as he swept his arms wide and sending a wave of water that swept across the no man's land between the fighting soldiers. It swept up dozens of the Genii infantry and sent them crashing back down to the ground or against various obstacles with bone breaking force. This effectively eliminated the last of the Genii on the field. The Asurans however were a little too dense to be picked up by his wave and despite the loss of their human allies, continued to press the attack. "I'm here after all."

"Can't dispute that," the Second Prime said as he killed a Replicator with a shot from his Staff Rifle. "These keron disruptor attachments sure are efficient. They make any of our weapons into Replicator killers."

"Thank the Tau'ri. I believe it was their idea initially." Royen told him distractedly as he readied himself for a powerful spell to end this. "**Fiendfulgur!**"

Fiendfulgur or fiendish lightning was a variant of the wizarding fiendfyre spell developed by the research team sent to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry that was designed to be more in line with the elemental alignment of the children of Nimue. Like its friery counterpart, this spell likewise summoned gigantic beasts that sought out the caster's enemies but unlike the original these constructs weren't made out of fire but instead were forged from _lightning_.

Thus it was that at Royen's invocation, a storm of lightning erupted from his position with the individual bolts quickly shaping themselves into a host of magical monsters that rampaged towards the Asurans. Said Replicators took one look at the preternatural phenomenon heading their away and despite their supposed lack of fear of death did something utterly uncharacteristic for their kind, they turned and ran.

Not all of them were completely overtaken by terror though and even as he fled, one of their number pulled out a large spherical device and started tinkering with it.

Not wanting to see what the device might do, Royen directed one of the lightning beasts conjured by his magic, specifically a serpentine dragon, to lance through both the Asuran and its device. This killed the Repicator but also set off the device, unleashing some kind of purple energy wave that washed over the whole area

"Did that do anything?" Royen asked the men urgently, only to receive negative replies from every direction that had him breathing a sigh of relief.

This didn't last long as he was just relaxing when Dr. Jackson rushed out of the tent housing the entrance to the underground chamber they'd been defending clutching a ZPM that was glowing a worrying red

"The ZPM," Dr. Jackson shouted as he ran over to Royen. "Whatever that pulse was, it's damaged it."

That sent everyone on edge. Royen included. If the ZPM exploded… It would likely destroy the planet. At least.

"Give it here," Royen said, grabbing the Ancient power source and running back into the tent, hastily plugged it into the thankfully undamaged equipment he'd brought to examine it.

For a few tense moments, he read the readings coming in and deciphered them like his life depended on it. Which it did!

After a tense few minutes though, he breathed the second sigh of relief in the day.

"It's safe." He told the worried crowd of onlookers that had gathered around him while he worked. "Though it's been rendered unstable."

"So it won't help us in the upcoming battle with the Wraith?" Dr. Gardner asked, looking disappointed.

"No, in the way we hoped." Royen confirmed. "However…"

"However, what?" Dr. Jackson pressed.

"We might be able to make use of it nonetheless. We just need to be creative."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done!
> 
> Hope you like this build up to the Wraith's first major attack on the Expedition. It should be epic. Or at least I'll try to make it such. Stay tuned for the next chapter to see if I manage.
> 
> Till then, totsiens!


	14. Enemy Counterattack - The Battle of Lantea

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of the IPs from which any imported elements may originate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Pegasus War**

**Chapter Fourteen: Enemy Counterattack - The Battle of Lantea**

**Beta: **

* * *

_They're here. _Marc thought to himself as his sensors detected the large Wraith fleet exiting hyperspace just outside the interdiction zone they'd set up in the Lantean system. _Thirty three Hive ships and a hundred and twenty nine cruisers against our own fifty five capital ships. That's three to one odds..._

Even with the two dozen defense satellites they'd put up in Lantean orbit, he didn't like the odds. It was true that they only needed to hold until the reinforcements are inbound from the Milky Way arrived. These reinforcements were supposed to be due anytime now, but he didn't know if they could hold off the assault until they arrived. Certainly, his Hive and the planet could hold out long enough, but his fleet and _Atlantis_? Of that he was uncertain.

_Nevertheless, fight I must._ He thought with conviction, even as he ordered his forces into position to receive the enemy. _If for no other reason than to not give the enemy the impression that they were walking into a trap._

_Chevalier, all ships are in position. _The collective of ship Pilots sent, pulling him out of his grim thoughts.

_Very well! Deploy the secret weapon!_

At his command a flurry of missiles were fired from the launch tubes of the various Expedition ships capable of deploying such weapons and hurtled through the void of space at the enemy. Whilst everyone of the projecticles were an actual, deadly weapon, only one of them was the true secret weapon. Every other warhead was simply a distraction, designed to lure the Wraith's attention away from the real threat.

That weapon detonated as the missile barrage was still out of the way of the Wraith's hastily launched screen of Darts and interception fire. Exploding like the force of a small nova, the force released by the damaged ZPM recovered from Dagan engulfed roughly a third of the Wraith fleet and consumed them in furious power of a short lived star.

_Good! Now all ships retreat to Lantea. The Wraith want to kill us? Let them catch us first!_

* * *

Even with the odds somewhat evened in their favour, the Expedition still did not engage. They had set up their static defenses in the orbit of Lantea, and it was there that they would finally take the fight to the enemy. That this bought more time for reinforcements from the Milky Way to arrive was also a major factor in the plan.

Thus they waited as the Wraith made the slow trip towards Lantea from the edge of the system via sublight. At least that was the plan. However, the Wraith proved themselves cunning opponents and using disposal scout ships they'd found the gaps in the hyperspace interdiction fields that the Expedition had set over the system. Due to a lack of time and resources, the coverage had of course not been complete, merely in a series of overlapping spheres at the edge of the system to force any incoming enemy ships to at least show themselves before they moved further into the system and also quite logically centred around the two habitable planets in the system. Thus exploiting these holes in the fields' coverage, the Wraith had managed to turn a trip that would've taken them weeks, if not months, into one that had taken them hours.

"_They're annoyingly smart aren't they?"_ Xinyue's XO said over the comms as their squadron joined the rest of the Expedition strike craft forming up ahead of their capital ships and awaiting the hammer blow that would be the Wraith Dart swarms. "_Seeing through the trick with the interdiction field so easily, damn them!"_

_When I heard I was being rotated back to Lantea, I was expecting a break. Not having to engage in _more _intense combat._ The Tieren pilot thought even as he replied, "They wouldn't be so much of a threat if they weren't."

"_Speaking of threats, Prime, have you seen the intel on the new Wraith mecha?" _His XO asked, curiously as they waited nervously for the enemy to close. So far despite deploying their strike craft, the Wraith were being awfully hesitant to finish closing the distance and actually starting the attack.

Xinyue had indeed seen the intel of the new Wraith machines. Acquired from scans made during the brief opening skirmish at the system's edge, it seemed the Wraith had started fielding their own Mobile Armor and Mobile Suits. Apparently, where their Dart swarm tactics had been a match for the typically small number Minervas that the Asurans fielded over thousands of years of war, they had proven ineffective against the superior strike craft of the Expedition thus prompting the development of their new machines.

The former, classified by the Expedition as Hunters, was a crab like Mobile Armor with a single glowing optic, a pair of short clawed arms, a single pair of vaguely humanoid legs with a single long claw for a foot and was armed with two top-mounted plasma cannons. A weapon that intel surmised that the Wraith had used their mastery of organic technology to engineer from some some kind of hapless crustacean, hence its appearance.

The Mobile Suit, classified as Enforcers, had a vaguely insectoid aesthetic to its armor and was armed with a large heavy particle cannon attached to its right arm, a lighter plasma repeater built into the left arm and a pair of missile pods incorporated into its shoulders. The most intriguing thing though was that, if intel was correct, it was a more mature form of the Hunter. As if the Wraith had developed that first then decided it wasn't enough and kept working till they got the Enforcer. Thankfully, the things were rare, suggesting that it was extremely difficult and expensive machine to produce. Consequently, they were likely reserved for Wraith commanders.

"_Prime, looks like the Wraith have finally found their courage."_ Xinyue's XO said, pulling the Third Prime form his thoughts.

"Looks like," Xinyue agreed as the Wraith fleet finally began to advance.

Their hesitance proved wise though as no sooner than they began their advance did Lantea's defense satellites decloaked and opened fire. In a single instant, two dozen green beams shot across the void of space from the planets' various lagrange points and crossed the immense distances in seconds as befit a light based weapon. More impressive still was how the beams proceeded to carve no less than _eighteen _different Wraith capital ships into pieces in a matter of seconds.

In response, dozens of Wraith cruisers disengaged and jumped into hyperspace. Presumably to deal with the satellites. The smart thing to do then would be for the rest of the Wraith fleet to fall back and wait for the satellites to be destroyed before attempting to advance again. However, contrary to expectation, the Wraith kept coming.

_Are they suicidal? _Xinyue thought with a frown. _Or just foolhardy? Either way, we won't let you live with this mistake. We will use it to kill you._

"_All fighters move to intercept."_ Commander Berlioz's order came over the comms at last and with a grin, Xinyue gunned his machine's engines and began vectoring towards the enemy with his squadron following on his wings.

"Warriors of Jade!" Xinyue shouted over the squadron comms. "Time to kill us some Wraith!"

This was met with roars of approval as they crashed into the leading edge of the Wraith fighter swarm. Firing as quickly as his weapon allowed, Xinyue was soon racking up quite an impressive tally of Dart kills even as he and his squadron danced around their attempts to box them in with their more maneuverable machines while letting their shields tank the weak enemy fire in return.

"_Prime, incoming Hunters!"_

Glancing at his sensors feed, he turned in the direction of the trio of incoming organic Mobile Armors.

"I see them," Xinyue replied smoothly as he vectored to engage them. "Two of you with me. The rest watch our backs and keep killing those Darts!"

"_Yes, Prime!"_ His men chorused as they obeyed.

With his XO and another of his subordinates at his side, the three Tierens corkscrewed around the plasma disks that the Hunters shot their way whilst returning fire of their own. Unlike their Wraith counterparts, the Jade pilots' shots were largely on target and caused significant portions of the Hunters' armor to flake off in response.

"Ablative armor on a Mobile Weapon." Xinyue noted with a frown even as the Hunters moved back to back to better face their more agile opponents who danced around them. "Though I suppose it fits the Wraith."

"_It does," _His XO said as they dealt enough damage to one of the Hunters that it finally succumbed and exploded into a brilliant fireball.

The blast forced its two surviving compatriots to break their formation and left them easy pickings for Tieren and his two wingmen and they soon joined the first in oblivion.

The Jade pilots didn't have time to celebrate however as they were still admiring their kills when their computers all blared in alarm.

"Incoming missiles!"

"Evasive maneuvers and use your countermeasures!" Xinyue ordered as he jinked in a random direction and fired a set of his countermeasures. Designed for protecting him against Asuran Drones, they proved just as effective against Wraith missiles causing the dozen or so small missiles that had locked onto him to prematurely detonate a safe distance away from him.

His wingmen weren't quite so lucky. Apparently too slow to deploy his countermeasures, his XO had let the missiles get too close and they'd drained his shields leaving him vulnerable. Worse, his other surbordinate hadn't even gotten to use his countermeasures and had taken multiple direct hits leaving him and his machine little more than a crowd of debris.

"Get out of here and recharge your sh-" Xinyue was ordering his XO when a particle beam lanced him from the same direction the missiles had come screaming in.

Howling in rage as he saw his long time friend die in a fireball, Xinyue turned to see a Wraith Enforcer flying almost leisurely towards him.

"Die!" Xinyue screamed as he gunned his Tieren's engines in a mad charge towards the enemy Mobile Suit, firing all the while.

Said enemy just danced around his fire, as nimble or more so than any other Mobile Suit that Xinyue had ever seen, and returned fire with its plasma repeaters, allowing its particle cannon to recharge.

_If you're maneuverable, then I just need to get close!_

With that thought in mind, Xinyue kept pushing his engines hard to close the distance. He dodged as much of the plasma bolts the Enforcer sent his way as possible but left the majority to his shield instead choosing to focus on closing with the enemy. He only really jinked out of the way when the damned thing raised its recharged particle cannon and fired a shot. Using his maneuvering thrusters, Xinyue abruptly moved his machine to the left allowing the beam to harmlessly pass him by on the right.

And then he was on the Enforcer. Seemingly catching the Wraith pilot completely by surprise he rammed his Tieren shoulder first straight into its machine's mid section, shattering huge chunks of its armor in the collision alone. It depleted most of Xinyue's own shields but he didn't care. Raising his gun into position as they drifted apart after the collision, he opened up on the other Mobile Suit's damaged torso. So furious was his fire that he literally tore the machine in half, leaving both shattered halves of the Wraith mecha to drift away for a short distance before they exploded.

Only then did Xinyue breathed a sigh of relief.

Glancing at his shield strength and seeing a paltry 5%, he knew he what he had to do.

"Squadron, I'm falling back to recharge my shields. All surviving units form up on me."

* * *

Despite the valiant efforts of Xinyue and the other Expedition strike craft pilots, the sheer numbers off Wraith strike craft was simply too immense and whilst they did manage to hold them at bay, racking up insanely large kill counts in the process, a trickle of Wraith strike craft managed to break through the Expedition fleet's lines to make attack runs on _Atlantis_ itself.

Thankfully, its inhabitants were prepared for this eventuality.

"Incoming Dart wing from the East. Reading ten bogeys. There's a couple of Hunters in there too." Chuck said from where he was manning a console in the cityship's newly established Defense Command Centre, set up mid way up the central tower.

"Do we have birds that can intercept?" Major John Sheppard asked, as he looked at the holographic tactical display that dominated the centre of the room hoping to answer his own question.

"Negative," Amelia said from her own console. "Eagle squadron is still tangoing with that Enforcer from the last wave."

John frowned. Those Enforcers were proving to be tough cookies and killing plenty of good pilots before they were taken down.

_We'll need to watch for them in the future. But right now…_

"Launch a salvo from the Triumph battery on the east pier."

"Yes sir," Amelia said, relaying his order.

John watched as a dozen bullet shaped objects launched from the east pier of the hologram of _Atlantis_ and streaked towards the cluster of incoming hostile red triangles representing the enemy. It took a second but the display updated and the hostiles disappeared, signifying their destruction.

"Major, a Wraith Hive just moved within range of our anti-orbital guns."

"Fire at will," John said, watching as Amelia nodded in return even as she relayed the latest order.

In the tactical display, a number of bullets shot from the various Staff Cannon batteries installed all over the City and streaked spaceward towards a large red triangle. Unlike the strike craft from earlier, this didn't just disappear from one update of the display to the next. It took twelve and at least three volleys, that John could count, before it went down.

"How's the ammo for our railguns?" John asked as he looked back towards the _Atlantis _portion of the display. It was mostly clear, but even with their best efforts a handful of Wraith had made it close enough that the short range railguns had plenty of work.

"They're good." Amelia reported. "Crews are getting tired though."

"Rotate them out." John ordered. "We can't let them get sloppy with their aim."

"Yes sir," Amelia said as she did her job and began relaying his order.

"Sir!"

"What is it Amelia?"

"It's the infirmary! They're saying there's an emergency and they need security!"

_What the hell is happening now!?_

* * *

"Gotcha, Amelia." Major Terence Tan said as he received the new orders over the radio. "We'll detour to the infirmary right away."

He and his team, AR-15, had been en route to replace one of the REXP-RG/BBT SG military railgun crews, not their job per se but the Expedition was shorthanded for this battle and beggars couldn't be choosers, when they'd got the orders to investigate an emergency in the infirmary.

It seemed that had Lt. Ford had stolen a weapon, taken a guard hostage, and blackmailed Dr. Carson into giving him the whole supply of the Wraith enzyme.

_It's the mind altering effects of the enzyme. It's gotta be. _Terence thought as they rushed towards the infirmary.

"Remember to use non-lethal force if possible. Lt. Ford isn't thinking straight," Terence reiterated to his men. "Only use lethal force if absolutely necessary."

"Yes sir," the rest of the team replied.

They were just rounding a corner when they ran into Ford making a break for it.

"Lt. Ford!" Terence shouts. "Stand down!"

"Not a chance!" The unstable American shouted back. "You're trying to change me back."

"No. I'm just trying to help you. We all are." Terence insisted, even as he signaled behind his back to Larry.

"No, you're not." Ford insisted.

"Stupefy!" Larry shouted, his wand raised.

In a display of his enhanced abilities thanks to the Wraith enzyme, Ford moved superhumanly fast and sidestepped the spell. A move that left AR-15 shocked.

"Guess that's to 'help' me, huh, Major?" Ford said, with a skeptical raised eyebrow.

"Look Lieutenant, we really are trying to help yo-"

"Help this!" Ford said, raising his stolen pistol and firing a shot straight into Terence's knee.

The Major cried out in pain and collapsed. He was thus in no condition to stop his teammates as they raised their weapons and opened up on Ford.

"Stop!" He managed only _after _their combined fire had reduced the poor man to a bullet riddled, charred hunk of meat.

"Damn it, guys! What part of non-lethal did you not get?"

"He shot you," Yod reminded him pointedly. "Non-lethal went out the window about then."

"I know. It's just-"

"Quite," Larry said in agreement as he knelt down next to Terence and cast a few healing spells. "There. They won't heal your knee completely, but it should hold until we can get you under a healing device or into a Sarcophagus."

"Should we head to the infirmary then?" Wrex asked, gesturing in the direction of the medical wing.

A flash of light from a nearby window had the team spinning towards it only to see the shield flare from a shot from orbit, one that was soon answered by the city's own anti orbital batteries

"I can get fully fixed up later," Terence said with a frown. "We still have a battle to fight. Let's go to that railgun emplacement. We have a tired crew to relieve."

* * *

As _Atlantis_' defenders fought hard against the Wraith, the vast majority of Lantea's population had been evacuated into the safest place on the planet available to the Expedition: the Lantean Hive's underwater Hive Complex. Located at the bottom of the ocean, it was essentially immune to either bombardment by the relatively anemic Wraith weapons and any attempt at a more direct assault.

The people of Lantea were safe there, but they were hardly comfortable. Tens of thousands of humans had at short notice been crammed into a series of structures that was already home to an equal or greater of Chiropterans made for very cramped conditions indeed.

Added to this discomfort, was the anxiety they all felt about the outcome of the battle. The Expedition had claimed they would emerge victorious and the people of Lantea trusted them. They had already done many great deeds that had proven they were capable of such a feat. But few had missed the doubt that had permeated the Atlanteans as the battle approached, and that doubt had spread among the Lantean peoples like a contagion.

It thus took everything the two Lantean Hive Queens had to keep the evacuees calm.

"Here have some water," Shirohime said kindly as she handed a bottle to a young boy. Judging by the style of his clothes, she guessed he was an Athosian.

She, her sister and a retinue of their Workers were walking through the packed corridors handing out rations to the people they'd offered safe harbor.

"Thank you," the little boy said gratefully. "But, ah, can I ask you a question?"

"Of course, young man. What is it?"

"When will we get to go home?"

"When? Not if?"

"Nuh uh," the young boy said, shaking his head enthusiastically. "Major Sheppard promised me that he and the other Atlanteans would beat the Wraith and when they do we'd get to go home. But he didn't say when that would be."

The boy's words earned him a mix of indulgent and skeptical looks from the many other evacuees in the chamber with them.

"My, what confidence in Major Sheppard." Shiro said with a smile.

"Major Sheppard always keeps his promises." The boy insisted.

"I'm sure he does," Shiro reassured him.

"Uh huh. So when can we go home?"

"Well," Shiro said diplomatically even as she sent a desperate plea to her sister over their private link for help. She had always been more of the diplomat. "They're still fighting on the surface. So-"

"It won't be long now," Kuro said as she walked over. "Major Sheppard should be finishing off those evil Wraith soon enough. I'm sure you'll be able to head home by the end of the day."

"Really!?"

"Really," Kuro assured the child and the others listening in on the conversation.

Smiling happily, the child turned to run off. "I've gotta tell mother! We need to start packing! We're going home soon!"

Not everyone of the evacuees who had heard Kuro's words were as reassured by what she'd had to say, but Shiro was pleased to see that most were at least looking less worried.

_I hope, sister, that you weren't lying to that boy. _Shiro sent as she watched the child disappear from sight.

_Honestly, I can't be sure I wasn't. _Kuro confessed. _But I hope I'm correct._

_Me too. _

* * *

Even as the battle began to touch the surface of Lantea, the bulk of the battle continued to rage in space.

_Defence satellite sixteen silenced. _Marc received over the Fleetmind and growled. That was the nineteenth defence satellite that the Wraith had taken out. And with the lost with each one, his fleet lost a substantial portion of its combat ability.

_So going after them when we didn't have the ships to split off and respond was a smart move after all. Well played. Well played indeed. _Marc complimented his unknown Wraith counterpart. It meant taking heavy losses by braving the satellites' deadly fire, but it was a gamble that had paid off for the enemy. It had managed to push the Expedition forces to the ropes.

With a third of his fleet sunk and only five defense satellites left he was very nearly at the point of defeat. Especially when despite their losses the enemy still had over sixty capital ships left!

_If I go down though, I'll go down fighting._

A murmur of agreement from the Fleetmind told him he wasn't the only one with such sentiments.

"_Chevalier!"_ The Albionian Fleet Lord shouted over a hastily connected comms link.

_What does he want at a time like this?_

"_I'm detecting readings consistent with a-"_

His sentence hung unfinished as the phenomenon he was trying to report played out for everyone on the battlefield to see. Above the chaotic space battle in an area of empty space, a brilliant bubble of light suddenly flared to life out of nowhere before bursting in a blinding flash. In its wake, it deposited a fleet of _hundreds _of capital ships fresh from the Milky Way and at its heart was a single intimidating Mel'tak dreadnought.

"_This is Shiplord Lucius of the Mel'tak, The Great Adventure, to all Expedition forces. Reinforcements have arrived."_

What followed was such a one-sided slaughter that the Tau'ri members of the Expedition would later come to call it a 'turkey shoot'. Falling upon the shocked Wraith like a school of hungry piranhas, the forces newly arrived from the Milky Way utterly _massacred _the remaining enemy fleet.

Within fifteen minutes, a battle that had dragged on for hours had ended in a decisive Expedition victory.

* * *

"Welcome to _Atlantis_, Shiplord Lucius," Elizabeth greeted the Albionian officer in command of _The Great Adventure _as he stepped out of the rings station that had been recently installed just off the Stargate. Strategically placed, it allowed for the rapid deployment of troops of Jade, Albion and Free Jaffa troops into the Gateroom from their ships if necessary. That it was also well covered by the many weapons emplacements already in the room meant it would not serve as a good insertion point for enemy infiltration either.

"It is an honour to be here, Dr. Weir." The Shiplord said politely as she walked him into the nearby conference room where the rest of the senior staff waited.

"Where's your ZPM?" Rodney demanding as soon as they entered the room and glaring at the Shiplord. "You said you had one."

That _The Great Adventure _had a ZPM was something of a surprise to the Expedition. They hadn't even known any of the devices had been found recently in the Milky Way. It seemed that while they'd been busy preparing for the battle with the Wraith, a team of archaeologists had found it while studying a former research lab back in Egypt belonging to the late, and much reviled, Goa'uld Supreme System Lord Ra.

"I did." The Shiplord said with an arched look at Elizabeth that she could only reply with a shrug. No one could truly keep Rodney McKay in line when he wanted to be difficult. Thankfully, the Shiplord seemed to understand enough of what she was trying to convey to let the faux pas slide.

"Unfortunately," he continued generously. "Between using it to enhance our fold drive to hasten our travel to the Pegasus and the battle, it has been depleted."

"A shame," Elizabeth said, shooting Rodney a reproving look that had him shrinking into himself and leaning back in his chair. "Though I'm sure Dr. McKay will like to examine it nonetheless."

_There. Hopefully he'll remain quiet for the rest of the meeting. _Elizabeth was willing to give him and the rest of AR-1 some slack after what happened to Lt. Ford, but there was a limit to everything and being so openly disrespectful to the man who saved their lives was one of them.

"I will have it sent down shortly." The Shiplord said with a gracious bow.

"Even without it, a Mel'tak is a powerful addition to our fleet." Marc observed. "Will you be staying?"

"Indeed," Shiplord Lucius said with a nod. "My ship and the escorting Coalition fleet are by the will of the Mother Empress and the Coalition High Command, here to serve."

This was met with sighs of relief all around. After the mauling the Expedition fleet had taken in the recently concluded battle, they _needed _this fresh infusion of ships and men.

"With this, we might even go on the offensive again?" Teyla suggested, looking at Marc hopefully.

The Chevalier frowned as he considered the matter. "Not immediately. We'll need to integrate our new arrivals into our forces and more importantly repair the defences around Lantea. We can't leave it vulnerable. Especially now that the enemy have demonstrated they are no longer intent on ignoring us."

Teyla looked slightly crestfallen, so Elizabeth stepped in to reassure her.

"Don't worry Teyla, I'm sure we'll take the fight to the Wraith and Asurans again soon enough."

"To that end Dr. Weir, might I ask a favour?" Yuki asked, her eyes literally glowing an unnerving wine red.

"What is it?" Elizabeth asked her Head of Intelligence with narrowed eyes.

"Could you hand over that Genii commander we have in custody to me? His name is Acastus Kolya I believe."

"And what do you need him for?" John snapped out of his brooding over Lt. Ford's death to ask, sounding just as suspicious as Elizabeth herself was of whatever scheme Yuki had concocted. "As you well know, we've extracted as much information as we can from him already."

"That's true. Between using Albionian truth serums and the Tok'ra's Za'tarc detectors as lie detectors, we likely acquired all useful intelligence especially since so much time has passed since his capture. However, I don't want him to ask questions. I hope to use him as an ally to deal a blow against our enemy."

"You would use him as a pawn?" Teyla asked, frowning.

"An _ally_," Yuki insisted.

"What exactly do you intend?"

"Simple Dr. Weir," the female Chevalier said with a smirk. "I intend to see if he's useful as the seed for a fifth column within the Genii."

"I doubt that'll work." John opined. "But if you think you can work a miracle, I don't see why you can't try."

"Thank you for your vote of confidence, Major." Yuki said sarcastically, before turning to Elizabeth. "Your thoughts, Dr. Weir?"

"Go for it." Elizabeth nodded, before turning to the Shiplord. "Sorry about that tangent, Shiplord."

"It was not an issue, Dr. Weir."

"Nevertheless, thank you for putting up with it. Now, let's get down to why we called you down. Mind giving us a breakdown on what you've brought with you from home?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done!
> 
> Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. With 12ish pages in my Gdoc covering the battle alone, I really hope I've satisfied the battle fanatics out there. At least somewhat.
> 
> Beyond that… Yeah, I killed Ford. Honestly, I never liked what canon did to him after the ran away from Atlantis either in the series or the sequel books. I think he'd have fit better as a recurring enemy leading that gang of thugs hyped up on Wraith enzyme or just killed off not just disappearing entirely and only returning in the books to get his happily ever after with a wife and kid among the Travelers. Obviously, I've chosen the option to just kill him. Mainly because as much as I would've enjoyed seeing him as a recurring villain in canon, writing him as one doesn't appeal to me.
> 
> Lastly, here's the visual guide for the Wraith's new mecha:
> 
> The Wraith Hunter = The Invid Fighter Scout of the Robotech franchise
> 
> The Wraith Enforcer = The Invid Commander of the Robotech franchise
> 
> That's all I want to talk about this chapter. So till next time, kveðjum!


	15. Enemy Counterattack - Threat to Home

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of the IPs from which any imported elements may originate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Pegasus War**

**Chapter Fifteen: Enemy Counterattack - Threat to Home**

**Beta: **

* * *

It was three days later and Elizabeth was still enjoying a lingering happy mood from the Expedition victory in the Battle of Lantea as she wrapped up for the day. She was just about ready to head back to her quarters for the day when a knock on the frame of her office's automatic sliding door caught her attention. Looking up from tidying her desk, she saw Yuki and Marc both standing on the bridge leading to her office looking grim.

"Bad news?" Elizabeth asked, as the last of her good mood vanished and was replaced with anxiety at whatever the two Chevaliers were about to tell her.

"Unfortunately, yes." Yuki said with a grimace as she and her brother stepped into the room. "You need to look at this."

Taking the offered tablet computer, she gestured for the two Chiropterans to take a seat.

"What am I looking at here?" Elizabeth asked as she looked at what appeared to be images from the long range sensors pertaining to recent Wraith fleet movements.

"Feeds from the long range sensors that indicate that the Wraith appear to be massing a sizable fleet."

"Appear to be? You can't be sure?"

"I'm afraid not," Yuki said with a frown. "Some of the Wraith signatures are blinking in and out, as the analysts who've studied the data have described it, from the feeds."

"We think that they might be experimenting, with some success, with some kind of stealth system that's hiding them from our long range sensors." Marc explained for his sister.

"You think they are planning to attack Lantea again?" Elizabeth asked, even as her stomach churned uneasily at the very thought. They'd only won the last battle thanks to the timely arrival of reinforcements, a stroke of luck that was unlikely to be repeated.

"Worse that that," Yuki said sounding especially grave. "The Wraith are gathering at the closest point in their territory to the Milky Way-"

"They're planning to attack to attack the Milky Way!?" Elizabeth gasped.

"It appears so," Marc agreed. "My guess is that either this was the plan all along and the attack of Lantea was an attempt to weaken us so we would be in no position to intervene."

"Or they're reacting to the arrival of our reinforcements," Yuki continued. "And have decided to cut the head off the snake as it were."

Elizabeth nodded. Both were indeed plausible.

"What can we do?"

"With your permission I'll like to contact Coalition High Command and arrange an intercept operation between our Fleet and the Joint Fleet." Marc suggested.

"Do we have the ships for that?" Elizabeth asked, acutely aware of the losses they had suffered in the recent battle.

"With the addition of the new reinforcements to the Fleet, I believe we have enough ships to form a detachment large enough to matter."

Elizabeth frowned at the Commander of the Expedition Fleet and instead looked to her Head of Intelligence.

"Do you agree? Or should we just leave this to the Joint Fleet?"

_Please tell me we can do the latter. Our men need a breather._

"I do not believe that is an option." Yuki informed her apologetically. "There remains a vocal minority of Coalition members who are unhappy with our actions here in the Pegasus, particularly how our actions are likely to provoke the Wraith and Asurans into becoming threats to the Milky Way. Now that this particular fear has come to pass-"

"The Coalition will need to appease them by demanding we at least play a part in cleaning up the mess." Elizabeth concluded as the understanding of politics she'd earned from her years of experience as a diplomat overcame her own wishful thinking.

"But you didn't answer my earlier question." Elizabeth pressed. "Do we have enough ships like Marc says."

"If the estimates we've made on the size of the Wraith fleet is accurate, then I am confident we can match it."

"If? Didn't you say they were using some kind of new stealth technology that's making it hard to track their ships? How confident are you in your estimates?"

Yuki frowned but nevertheless looked Elizabeth firmly in the eye. "Confident enough to formally express my support for us to deploy our Fleet for this mission."

Elizabeth met that gaze and knew what she wasn't saying.

'_We'll likely be outnumbered, perhaps badly, but we need to do this anyway.' Is that it?_

It was times like this that, despite it being her bread and butter, Elizabeth hated politics.

"Very well," Elizabeth said with a resigned sigh. "Marc, contact High Command and work out a plan of attack. Yuki, go over the data again and get us a better number on what we'll be facing."

"Yes, Dr. Weir." Both Chevaliers said in unison as they stood.

Elizabeth watched them leave with a worried frown.

_I hope I made the right call._

* * *

_Exiting hyperspace._ The Fleetmind informed Marc as the blue of the tunnel through hyperspace that his fleet was travelling through opened back up into normal space and his ships began pouring out.

A quick check of the tactical situation through the _Musashi_'s sensors told him that he was late to the party. The Wraith fleet he'd traveled to the intergalactic void to intercept had already run into the other half of the trap, namely the sizable flotilla that the Coalition Joint Fleet had dispatched for this mission.

_Sizable and impressive._ Marc thought idly as he read over the composition of the Joint Fleet flotilla. There were two Mel'taks, a dozen _O'Neills_, and almost five hundred capital ships in total. Adding in his own hundred odd ships that made truly one sided odds against the sixty eight hive ships and two hundred cruisers of the Wraith fleet.

_It feels good to outnumber the Wraith for once._

This feat was only possible by exploiting the Wraith's inability to make long journeys in hyperspace as radiation from subspace damaged their ships' organic hulls thus necessitating brief pauses for them to regenerate before returning to hyperspace. Aware of this vulnerability in Wraith technology, High Command had meticulously tracked their movements and set up this trap to snap shut around the life sucking space vampires exactly when they were making such a pause.

"Form up into attack formations," Marc ordered verbally for the benefit of the non-Chiropteran elements of his fleet. "Let's give the Wraith a little taste of the classic hammer and anvil."

_Chevalier, hyperspace windows detected at our rear._ The Fleetmind warned suddenly.

_What!? _

_New arrivals are Wraith. Repeat. Wraith reinforcements have exited hyperspace to our rear._

_How did they surprise us like this!? Why didn't we detect them on our long range sensors?_

_Readings indicate these ships have modifications to their hulls that allow them to absorb the subspace signals that should reflect off their surface in the bands that we use in our long range sensors. _The Fleetmind informed him with a calm he himself did not feel. _The broader spectrum short range sensors appear unaffected. Targeting isn't compromised._

Their calm was infectious though and he allowed himself to take a steadying breath.

_I suppose that's a relief. _Marc noted. If they couldn't reliably lock on and hit their enemy, the battle was more or less already lost. _Make a note to salvage some of that stealth armor for analysis after the battle. We can't let the Wraith ambush us like this again._

_Affirmative._

Calmer, Marc began issuing orders to his void sailors.

"Change formation! Defensive sphere! Now!"

Even as he spoke, he suppressed the shiver of dread that threatened to run down his spine as he read the sensor readings. There were over three hundred Wraith capital ships vectoring towards his forces!

_We still outnumber them overall. _Marc thought to himself, as he tried to take comfort in something in this dire situation. _We just need to hold out till the Joint Fleet forces can break through the other Wraith fleet and support us._

As the enemy began closing the last of the distance from the edge of his fleet's interdiction fields and into engagement range, Marc set aside all distracting thoughts. With the odds he was facing, he needed to focus all his attention on the battle at hand.

* * *

Even as the Expedition's ships prepared to receive the unexpected tide of Wraith reinforcements, their allies from the Coalition Joint Fleet were still dealing with the first Wraith Fleet and among them was the Albionian ace, Char.

Flying in the thick strike craft melee between the two fleets in her Vengeance Mobile Armor, Char blasted away at the Wraith's fragile but incredibly numerous Darts with abandon racking up an immense kill count. A fact that had not been missed by the Wraith as evidenced by the trio of Hunters the extragalactic vampires had set on her tail.

"These things are fast," Char noted as she pirouetted her machine around streams of plasma disks from the three bogeys chasing her. "Their weapons aren't very good though. Low yield and low rate of fire."

As if to prove that point, she daringly did an abrupt turn to face her pursuers. In the process, she'd slowed down for a moment and that was enough for the three Wraith Hunters to get a lock and splash her shield with their plasma disks. It held easily though, barely being drained by the barrage. The Hunters weren't so lucky when she returned fire, with the centre machine in their flight practically disintegrating from just the hits from her Vengeance's shoulder mounted beam cannons.

The two on either side of their compatriot managed to break in time though and she only managed to score glancing blows on the machines.

"Damn, their odd shape is throwing off my aim." Char grumbled even as she caught one of them with a wired claw arm and blasted it apart with the arm's internal beam cannon.

Tossing its wreckage at the last Hunter, Char startled it enough that it failed to make a proper evasion from the brace of plasma beams she'd shot its way and literally flew into the path of one of her beams.

"Really should've invested in some shields," Char noted. "Their ablative, regenerating armor doesn't really measure up."

An alert from her computer gave her just enough time to jink out of the way of a plasma lance that hurtled her way courtesy of an incoming Wraith Enforcer. One which undeterred by the failure of its opening attack, followed up with a barrage of missiles.

"You'll have to do better than that," the Albionian ace muttered as she released a set of countermeasures that handily took care of the small swarm of missiles the Wraith had launched her way.

Using the cover of the explosions created by their detonation, Char retook the initiative and fired straight through them. This forced the Enforcer to evade by vectoring to exactly where she wanted it and into the sights of her wired claw arms. Much to her shock, the Wraith pilot actually managed to jink its machine out of a direct hit.

Char did score a grazing blow on its right arm though that took out its plasma cannon and she counted that as a point in her favour. Gunning her engines, she closed with the enemy machine whilst simultaneously retracting her wired claw arms even whilst she had them firing their cannons all the while, adding to the barrage her Vengeance's main body was already unloading in the Enforcer's direction.

Continuing to impress her, the Enforcer danced around the increasing tight box of plasma fire that streaked past all around him enduring only the occasional grazing hit that tore off chunks of its ablative armor but did no lasting damage, all whilst continually returning fire with its plasma repeater. The weapon was however like most Wraith weapons rather anemic in its yield and it barely even dented Char's shield.

"I've got you now!" Char shouted triumphantly as she finished closing into melee range with the nimble Enforcer, who despite its best efforts at evasion had now lost its left leg and what remained of its damaged right arm.

Shooting her wired claw arms at the Wraith mecha, Char grabbed it by its left shoulder and right leg before literally pulling the pesky machine apart.

With the Enforcer dealt with, Char chanced a glimpse at the tactical situation. It seemed her little duels with first the Hunters and then the Enforcer had caused her to drift away from the heart of the battle.

_That explains why we weren't bothered by anyone else. And probably their plan in the first place._

The further away she was from the fight, the less Wraith she could kill.

"Time to change that," Char told herself as she flew her Vengeance back towards the thick of the fight.

As she did, she saw the desperate looking struggle the Expedition fleet was putting up against the second Wraith fleet. Briefly she considered vectoring towards that fight instead, but quickly dismissed the thought. As deadly as she was, she knew she couldn't singlehandedly turn the tide of a battle like that. What she needed to do was help the Joint Fleet flotilla finish off the first Wraith fleet so it could go rescue the Expedition forces.

_And we better do it fast, _Char thought with a wince as she saw an Expedition Ha'tak explode in a brilliant fireball. _It doesn't look like they can last much longer._

* * *

Char wouldn't know it but her sentiment was very much shared by Jade Third Prime and Tieren pilot, Xinyue, as he flew his machine alongside the remnants of his squadron as part of the Expedition forces.

_I think I know how the Ancients felt when they fought the Wraith now. _The Jaffa thought as he jinked his machine out of the way of the fire from a Hunter and right into the path of the plasma bolts from a pair of Darts.

_There's no end to them. _He added as he blew the Darts into clouds of debris and shifted his fire to the Hunter, hitting in its left shoulder. He seemed to have damaged its plasma cannon in some way because moments later it exploded, taking the rest of the mecha with it. _But that's what makes killing them so satisfying. There's always more of these monsters to end._

"_Prime, my shields are low." _One of his men said over the comms, prompting similar statements from the rest of his squadron.

Glancing at his shield, he saw it was still at a respectable 68% but he wasn't going to be taking risk. They'd suffered enough losses in the Battle of Lantea already and he was not going to risk them taking any more, especially when they hadn't gotten the time to replace their previous losses yet.

"Fall back to the flak perimeter of our ships." Xinyue ordered, as he vectored his own machine to do as he said while shooting a distracted Hunter through the eye and disabling it at the same. "We'll let our shields recharge and then rejoin the fray."

Hearing the chorus of affirmatives and counting them up, Xinyue breathed a sigh as he realized none of his men had died so far. He unfortunately was counting his eggs before they hatched, as he'd just finished his count when a pair of Wraith Enforcers fired their plasma cannons from above and directly into the formation of his retreating men. His men responded quickly and jinked out of the way, but one of it newer members took a glancing blow that pierced through his weakened shield before lancing straight through his Tieren's flight pack.

Sensing blood in the water, the two Enforcers closed on the damaged Tieren intent on finishing it off. Xinyue was having none of that and gunned his own machine towards his disabled man's own as well. One of the Wraith spotted him and turned to intercept him, but was promptly blown to pieces by the combined fire of the rest of Xinyue's squadron.

The last Wraith however faced a much more close up and personal end.

It got within touching distance of Xinyue's man before the Third Prime violently shouldered it aside. He was not done however, not by a long shot.

Fueled by adrenaline and rage, Xinyue dropped his Tieren's gun and instead drew the heat blade that it was armed with. This was supposed to only be a weapon of last resort, but Xinyue didn't care. In that moment, faced with the prospect of losing another of his men, all he wanted was to finish the asprining killer in the most visceral way available to him. Using the jian shaped heat blade, Xinyue hacked the Enforcer to pieces before vectoring away, picking up his machine's previously discarded gun and blasted away at the wrecked machine until it exploded in a satisfying fireball.

"Good riddance," the Jade squadron commander said to himself before addressing his men over the comms. "Someone grab Cishyd's machine and tow him with them. We need to complete our retreat."

"_Yes, Prime!"_ His men responded, their voices tinged with awe.

Ignoring that, he made sure that someone had grabbed hold of Cishyd and his machine before he led his men back into the relative safety within their ships' flak screens. As much as he wanted to kill more Wraith to avenge his fallen comrades, keeping his living subordinates alive were more important.

* * *

_They're holding the line admirably. _Fleet Lord Loutal, commander of the Albionian contingent of the Joint Fleet flotilla noted as he glanced at the tactical screen and observed the stubborn defence the Expedition forces was putting up against the second Wraith fleet. _But I think it is past time we helped them out, but to do that we have to finish off our own batch of enemies._

_To that end…_

"Relay my orders to our fleet," Loutal said to his comms officer. "All Ha'tak are to remain in position around the _Erumpent_ and the _Lady's Judgement_. Have all Shel'tak and as many of the Al'kesh that can disengage from the strike craft melee form up into a spindle formation."

"All ships sound an affirmative."

"Have the Shel'tak and Al'kesh formed up?"

"They are doing so now," the comms officer reported back,

"My lord, you intend to pierce through the enemy lines?"

"Yes," Loutal confirmed to his XO. "The enemy has lost enough ships to attempt it."

"It's still risky."

"It's a risk we have to take. The Expedition forces cannot hold out forever."

His XO winced, before reluctantly nodding her consent to his plan.

With that objection dealt with, they waited anxiously as they waited for the Shel'tak and Al'kesh to move into the formation he'd ordered.

"My lord, Shel'tak and Al'kesh are in formation." The comms officer reported a few tense minutes.

"Tell them to shoot their way through the enemy lines and cut us a corridor to relieve the Expedition forces. And don't forget to inform General Hammond of our plans."

The respected Tau'ri General had been given command of the Joint Fleet forces assigned to this mission and his plan though involving only Albionian ships would affect the entire Joint Fleet flotilla, it thus behooved him to at least keep the man informed.

"Yes, my lord!"

Loutal barely heard the affirmative his subordinate shouted in reply, he was too focused on watching the tactical display as it showed his thrust begin their advance into the heart of the Wraith fleet. As the point of the spindle of ships met the barrage of Wraith fire that the enemy threw up to force them back, it almost seemed like the whole formation would collapse but Loutal couldn't let that happen.

"Suppress them! All Ha'taks and Mel'taks focus fire on the Wraith blocking our thrust! Clear a path!"

As his orders were heeded, a half dozen Wraith capital ships died under sustained, focused fire from his Ha'taks and Mel'taks and the belated fire from other Coalition ships. This opened up a gap that allowed the thrust to finally break through. The Wraith scrambled to reposition their capitals to block them off, but were too spread out to do so in time. As a result, the thrust of ships successfully bisecting the enemy fleet.

"All ships move in! We can't let them plug that gap!" Loutal ordered. "Use it to englobe them!"

"My lord, General Hammond is on the comms. He's saying you have command here, my lord."

"Here?" Loutal asked, puzzled by the phrasing. "What does he mean?"

"My lord," his XO said in a raised voice and pointing to the tactical display on the main viewscreen. "I think that explains it."

Looking at the display himself, Loutal watched a sizable part of the Joint Fleet flotilla split off from the forces quickly moving to englobe and contain the bisected halves of the first Wraith fleet and led by the Tau'ri contingent rushed to the aid of the beleaguered Expedition fleet.

_May the Lady's grace be with you. _Loutal offered in prayer to the General and those following his lead, before addressing his bridge crew.

"Stay focused," he said, snapping a handful of his subordinates that had been distracted by events back to attention. "We still have plenty of Wraith of our own to finish off."

"Yes, my lord!" The bridge crew chorused apologetically.

Brushing aside their apology and all other distractions, Loutal heeded his own advice and paid his full attention to the task at hand.

* * *

Even as the Joint Fleet forces made their breakthrough, Marc and the Expedition fleet task force were on the verge of collapse.

_Mu Guiying sunk. _The Fleetmind told him even as he saw through the _Musashi_'s sensors how a Jade Shel'tak under his command was taken out by the combined fire of a pair of Wraith cruisers as they made a strafing run against the ever shrinking defensive sphere he'd pulled his ships into. Both were swiftly destroyed in turn by fire from other allied ships, but not before they'd managed to destroy a trio of Reetou frigates that had rushed out of the formation to attempt to engage them.

_We can't sustain these losses much longer. I have to call for a retreat, befo-_

_Incoming friendlies. _The Fleetmind sent, interrupting Marc's thoughts.

Quickly shifting his attention, he brought up the tactical data from the Fleetmind and saw with a growing grin as the USS _Daedalus _slammed into the flank of the enemy Wraith fleet at the head of a spear of allied ships.

_Hail from General Hammond. _The _Musashi_'s Pilot sent him.

"Put him on," Marc said, too pleased to keep himself restrained to telepathy.

"_Chevalier Berlioz,_" the bald head of the legendary Tau'ri general said as it appeared on the main viewscreen of the _Musashi_'s bridge. "_Pull back and take a breather. We've got this._"

"Understood, General. And thank you. You have impeccable timing."

"_No thanks are necessary. Just doing our job. Hammond out._"

With that General Hammond cut the connection, presumably to retake command of his forces. Forces which Marc was delighted to see were exploiting their surprise entry into the fight and were utterly mauling the confused Wraith fleet.

_Chevalier, Wraith lines are breaking. Several hive ships and their escorts are attempting to flee._

_If they run away now, they might actually get away. _Marc observed. With most of their kind choosing to stand and fight, thus holding off the Joint Fleet forces from pursuing them the cowards could actually make it out of interdiction range and jump away before anyone could chase them down.

The Chevalier was tempted to send some of his ships in pursuit but all of them were sporting some damage or the other by this point and he honestly didn't want to risk it. Hence, he could only watch as the Wraith that had so ravaged his fleet were either destroyed or fled with their tails between their legs.

_It's not as good as dealing the killing blow myself, but watching my enemies be humbled like this even from the sidelines is quite enjoyable._

* * *

Back on _Atlantis_, the Expedition personnel were also enjoying themselves at receiving the news of the victory of what some had coined as the Battle of the Pegasus-Milky Way Gulf or the Battle of the Intergalactic Void. There was still a rather lively debate among various interested parties over which name was better.

Terence personally favoured the former since it more accurately described the battle. The intergalactic void after all referred to a vast area of space and included the empty space between _all _galaxies. As such, for the sake of being clearer about the details, the Battle of the Pegasus-Milky Way Gulf was just better.

Not that he was going to voice his opinion. He knew better than to get between Dr. McKay and Major Sheppard when they went at it. It might have been good natured, but they could be downright vicious when they started one of their little competitions and Terence wanted no part in it. Even if he thought Sheppard was being an idiot this time.

"You're thinking Major Sheppard is being daft, right Major?" Yod asked as he caught Terence rolling his eyes at his fellow Major as he stated his latest stupid defense of his choice.

"Well, he is." Terence said with a shrug. "Honestly 'because the name is cooler'? What kind of logic is that?"

"A drunk man's." Larry told him seriously, gesturing over to the dozen or so beer bottles around Sheppard's place at his table in the mess.

Terence winced. He knew _why _Sheppard was drinking so much. Heck, _he _was the bloody reason.

A sudden pinch to his arm had Terence yelping and spinning to glare at Wrex.

"What was that for?"

"I'm just standing in for Yelana," Wrex told him with a grin. "You were brooding again. And that's how she always gets you to stop."

"I wasn't brooding."

"Yeah, you were boss." Yod told him, reaching over to smack him on his already abused arm.

"Ouch! Stop that." Terence cried as he pulled his arm close to his chest and hugged it defensively.

"Oh alright, we'll stop." Yod said with a pout. "But you'll have to stop kicking yourself over Lt. Ford too."

"But-"

"No 'but's," Larry cut him off. "You did nothing wrong. You tried reasoning with the man."

"He wasn't in his rig-"

"Right mind or not, you _did _try to talk him down." Larry insisted.

"And he shot you for it." Wrex reminded him.

"And we killed him for it." Terence said with a sigh.

"Yeah, we did. But only 'cos he was a danger to everyone. If he could shoot you, then he could have shot anyone. He had to be stopped."

"Yod's right." Wrex continued. "Even Dr. Weir agrees."

"Dr. Beckett and Major Sheppard too." Larry added. "No one blames you Major. No one but you."

Terence sighed. "It'll take time okay, guys. Intellectually I know you're right, but-"

"The heart feels what the heart wants," Larry said with a frown. "We understand. Just, don't let this grief consume you."

"I won't," Terence promised.

"You better not or Yelana will never forgive you," Wrex told him seriously.

"And a better threat I've never heard." Terence replied just as seriously.

"Okay, enough serious stuff!" Yod declared. "This is a party. So let's party!"

Terence shook his head in exasperation at Yod's dramatics, but he couldn't disagree with him. Nor reject the bottle of beer he offered from the chilled crate of the stuff he'd gotten from somewhere.

_I really should investigate where he got that, but like he said this is a party so I think I'll let it pass just this once._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done!
> 
> Hmm… Nine pages of action out of a handful of points in my outline for the chapter? That's impressive. It's transformed what I feared would be an overly short chapter into a decently sized one, so that's good. Hopefully though this expansion produced an enjoyable read. Kindly let me know if that's the case in a review, alright?
> 
> Lastly, why is Terence suffering fallout over Ford's death but not Weir? Isn't Weir close to Ford like she is to the rest of AR-1 in canon? Actually, there's no evidence of that. Sure, he was part of the Expedition's flagship team but beyond that there was no hint of a personal connection. Not like she developed with Sheppard, McKay, Teyla or even Ronon. At least not beyond beyond the general closeness she engendered between herself and everyone under her command. As such, by my estimation Weir would see his lost as regrettable but no more so than the many others who died in the Battle of Lantea and it would not overshadow her happiness at that victory. In contrast, Terence was pretty much responsible for Ford's death in this verse so of course he'd be hung up on it.
> 
> Well, that's all I need to talk about this chapter. So till next time, alavida!


	16. Sins of the Past - Asuran Origins

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of the IPs from which any imported elements may originate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Pegasus War**

**Chapter Sixteen: Sins of the Past - Asuran Origins **

**Beta: **

* * *

"More of them are coming from the right!" Yod shouted as he laid down a withering barrage of plasma bolts from his Rotary Staff Cannon at the Sion soldiers trying to charge their position.

It had been two weeks since the Battle of the Pegasus-Milky Way Gulf and AR-15 had teamed up with the newly promoted Lt. Colonel Sheppard's AR-1 in raiding an Asuran database located on a world belonging to one of their collaborator peoples, the Sions. To that end, they had secretly beamed down into the extensive but unshielded bunker complex that served as the Sions' gate facility/primary settlement and covertly searched for the database's location.

The time for stealth was over though as they'd been forced to take down the squad of guards for the room that housed the database, effectively kicking over a hornet's nest and landing them in their current situation: pinned down in the corridors outside the database room as they held off a Sion force trying to retake the area as they waited for Dr. McKay to open the door protecting the mission's objective.

"What wouldn't I give to be given the chance to take leave on Earth like the Expedition senior staff had recently?" Larry asked idly, as he used his magic to conjure a fresh set of low stone walls to replace their battered predecessors that everyone had been using as cover against the plasma bolts the Sions' were shooting at them from their energy rifles.

Rifles that Terence couldn't help but notice, even as he killed droves of their owners with plasma from his SPAR 21, were nigh identical to the ones used by the Genii.

_The Asurans must mass produce them and hand them out to all their client races._

"Isn't our team due for home leave next rotation?" Wrex asked, as he put a plasma bolt between the eyes of a Sion soldier that had popped out of the corner that he'd using as cover to attempt to throw a grenade.

As the dead soldier's body fell, so did his grenade which rolled towards a cluster of his colleagues. Most of them panicked and ran, though one particularly brave soul tried to kick the grenade away. None of them escaped unscathed as the device went off taking the leg off the man who had tried to kick it and showering the others in sharpnel that left them writhing in pain or worse.

"Nice shot, Wrex." Yod complimented even as Larry used a whispered 'Arresto Momentum' to slow a successfully thrown and incoming grenade causing it to suddenly lose most of its momentum and fall to the ground like molasses, well short of their position and thus detonating harmlessly in the no man's land between the two sides. "Nice spellwork, Larry."

"But back to what I was about to say," Yod continued, still shooting an unrelenting barrage of plasma down the right side corridor. "Going home isn't always a good thing either. I mean just look at Dr. Weir. Didn't she get back only to find her beau had move-"

"Be quiet," Teyla hissed loudly enough to be heard even over the continuing firefight. "You should know Chief Yod that we _do not_ talk about _that_."

"Can we not talk at all?" Ronon Dex, AR-1's new local member and former Runner - individuals who are implanted with a tracking device by the Wraith, who were then set free and hunted down by the lifesuckers - that Sheppard's team had rescued on a mission to P3M-736. "Or are you people always this noisy during missions?"

"We do banter quite a bit," Teyla admitted as she gunned down a trio of suicidally brave Sions who had run out of cover in a reckless charge. "It's how we relieve tension."

"I suppose that's not unheard of when in combat, though I prefer silence myself." The Satedan former Runner said as he literally shot an enemy grenade with his particle magnum, causing it to harmlessly disintegrate.

"You'll get used to it Chewie. Nice shooting by the way." Sheppard told his new teammate, before turning to the door they were fighting to hold. "McKay, are you almost done?"

"Almost," Dr. McKay returned sounding harried. "My program only needs to identify a couple more symbols of the passcode left."

"Hurry!"

"I can't hurry this anymore than I already have, Sheppard!" Dr. McKay snapped back. "I'm trying to crack a password with over ten million combinations here! It's a miracle I've managed to work as quickly as I already have."

"Whatever! Just hurry!"

Dr. McKay's only reply was to grumble unintelligibly.

"Is that what I think that is?" Wrex shouted, catching everyone's attention.

Looking in the direction the Lacuan was, the AR teams saw a group of Sions pushing what looked a local equivalent of a Rotary Staff Cannon mounted on an armored field carriage

"McKay!"

"I'm hurrying! Don't rush me!"

"I'm not the one doing the rushing!" Sheppard shot back. "That gatling gun thing is."

"I know! But I can't make this go any fa- Got it! Opening the doors now!"

True to his words, the doors they were trying to defend finally opened.

"Get in!" Terence shouted at the same time Sheppard did, as they both ushered their teams inside while laying down covering fire. Only when they were sure all their teammates were through the slowly opening doors did they dive in themselves. In the process, they both barely avoided a pair of the Sions' blue plasma bolts flying overhead.

"Close it!" Sheppard shouted even as McKay worked on the controls and the half opened doors suddenly reversed the direction they were moving and slammed back shut. Just in time too as the sound of the rotary plasma weapon's fire slamming into the heavily reinforced door echoed throughout the room.

"Will that door hold?" Yod asked worriedly eyeing the door.

"It will." McKay assured him. "At least long enough to get what we came for."

"But we better get to work immediately." Terence said as he got to his feet.

Walking over to the large bank of computer terminals that dominated the otherwise barren room, he pulled out the computer he'd brought for the occasion and plugged it into the Asuran database they'd come all this way to plunder.

"ETA?" Sheppard asked, as McKay likewise plugged his tablet into the database.

"You're taking the first half of the directories," the scientist asked and Terence nodded.

"Then I'll take the rest." McKay said as he got to work.

"If that's the case… I'd say ten, maybe fifteen minutes." Terence informed his fellow team leader.

"Then I'll better let Colonel Ellis know to be ready to beam us up. McKay, you sure that we'll get through?"

"Yes," the good doctor said distractedly. "The room isn't shielded. Neither is the complex. They'll be able to beam us out just fine."

"Then why didn't they just beam us in here directly?" Ronon asked with a frown. "It would've saved us that firefight earlier."

"We didn't know _where _the database was in the facility. We needed to get in and find it. I thought I explained that during the briefing."

"I must've forgot," Ronon said with a shrug.

Yod snickered in amusement, even as Terence rolled his eyes.

_I hope Sheppard knows what he's doing taking this guy onto his team._

* * *

A little over ten minutes later, Terence looked up at Dr. McKay. "I'm done. You?"

"Same." Dr. McKay shouted over the sound of the battering the shielded door that kept them safe from the Sion's retribution was taking as he detached his computer from the Asuran database.

Terence nodded and began to do the same. Once done, he turned to look at Sheppard and nodded.

The Lt. Colonel checked with Dr. McKay that he too was ready, before toggling his radio. "This is Colonel Sheppard to _Theseus_. We're ready to be beamed up."

"_Affirmative Colonel. Stand by."_

Moments later with the sound of a soft chime, AR-15 and AR-1 were beamed aboard the USS _Theseus _and as per the newly updated security protocols were trapped in a small theatre shield surrounded by armed marines inside the BC-304's brig.

"It's them, Colonel." The marine sergeant that was standing closest to the shield said into his radio as he gave them all a once over with a handheld scanner. "Biometrics and everything checks out too."

"_Good, we're beaming them up to the bridge now."_

If the sergeant said anything, Terence didn't hear it as he and the others were beamed onto the _Theseus_' bridge and was greeted by the ship's CO, Colonel Abraham Ellis giving orders to his crew.

"Drop the cloak and raise shields," the bald, black man with a neatly trimmed mustache barked. "Comms, let _Atlantis _know we've accomplished our mission and are on the way home. Helm, break orbit and once comms gets the message off take us to hyperspace."

Trusting his subordinates to carry out his orders, Colonel Ellis finally turned to address the two AR teams.

"Good job, all of you." He said genuinely, before his tone turned slightly humorous. "It seems you did deserve your promotion after all, eh, Sheppard?"

Whether or not Sheppard had deserved his promotion for commanding _Atlantis _during the Battle of Lantea was something the two Colonels had been good naturedly arguing about the whole way to Sion. Sheppard argued he didn't _really _deserve it because he had only been doing his duty and that the promotion was more political than anything, as the Pentagon needed to credit _someone _for the victory. Colonel Ellis on the other hand insisted that Sheppard's exemplary leadership during the battle needed to be recognised.

"I suppose," Sheppard said with a noncommittal shrug.

"You're still hung up about it, huh?" Colonel Ellis said with an understanding look in his eyes. "Just remember, don't focus on those you didn't save. Instead, think about all those who _were _saved by your actions and be proud of saving them."

"Thanks for the advice," Sheppard with far more sincerity than before. "But I think we've held you and your crew up enough as is. You've got a ship to run and we're just in the way. So me and my guys will get out of your hair now."

Colonel Ellis just chuckled as in the background the bridge was suffused by the light of hyperspace as the _Theseus_ jumped into the alternate dimension.

"Much appreciated, Sheppard. You are your teams have free use of my ship, just so long as you don't interfere with my crew's duties."

"Thanks, Colonel." Sheppard offered with a salute that Terence emulated.

Dropping the salute, Sheppard turned to Terence. "Major, after you."

Nodding obligingly, Terence ushered his team off the bridge.

He'd barely made a half dozen steps down the corridor though when Dr. McKay grabbed hold of his arm.

"We're going to Engineering," the Expedition Head of Technical Sciences declared. "We need to get started going through all the data we acquired ASAP."

"We?" Terence asked, blinking in confusion even as the excited scientist began dragging him away much to the amusement of his team.

"Have fun, boss."

* * *

An hour later in Engineering, despite working diligently to go through the recovered Asuran database, Terence hadn't found anything particularly interesting. Mostly what he'd found were information the Sions had inputted into the database themselves, which would surely have the people in the Intelligence Department salivating, but was just mundane nonsense to him.

From the look of frustration on McKay's face, he wasn't having any luck either. That is until he suddenly stood up with an excited gleam in his eyes.

"What is it?

"I think I found the answer to a question that's been eluding us for ages?"

"What?" Terence asked, his curiosity piqued.

"Why the Asurans are doing what they are."

This caught the attention of everyone in the Engineering room, even the ornery Asgard Hermiod looked up from his station to look at McKay.

"Let me see." Terence said, ignoring the looks and coming over to see what had McKay all excited.

It was a document that seemed part religious text, part history that claimed to be penned by the first of the current iteration of Asurans the rather pretentiously self-styled Oberoth, First of the Second Birth.

It confirmed Expedition suspicions that the Replicators venerate Janus as their 'Creator' before proceeding to provide an account of why. According to the document they did so because before returning to the Milky Way with the other surviving Lanteans he secretly reactivated them. This despite the Atlantean Council, the Lanteans' ruling body, having gone as far as wiping them out in the past because they failed to meet their expectations as a weapon against the Wraith and for their potential threat to the rest of the galaxy.

A threat the document claimed the Asurans freely recognised. However, it continued that in his wisdom Janus took steps to mitigate this by introducing several limitations into their fundamental programming to keep them in check. Firstly, he severely limited their ability to reproduce so as to prevent them becoming full on von Neumann machines. Secondly, he inputted a directive into them to protect the Pegasus galaxy from the Wraith. Thirdly, he backed these directives by programming into their thinking on a fundamental level the moral necessity of such limits, something which has stopped them from working to override them. And as a last failsafe, he worked into their programming a drive to ensure his modifications, especially his limits and the directive to fight the Wraith, are actively protected from corruption by the Wraith, rogue elements within their own society, or external forces.

As a result of these directives Janus left within their programming, the Asurans have dedicated themselves to fight the Wraith "for the greater good of Pegasus" even if it means the deaths of innumerable sapients. In fact, they see the wanton mass murder they are 'forced' to conduct as a sarcifice to this end. A noble sacrifice on par with their own decision to not tamper with Janus' prohibitions that deprives them of their full potential. They see both 'sacrifices' as ones they willingly make for the sake of Pegasus.

_I knew the Asurans weren't right in the head, but this… This is just madness… Whoever this Janus guy is, he really, really screwed up! _Terence thought as he finished reading the document. _But as enlightening as this document is, it's not earth shattering. Definitely not to the extent that Dr. McKay is making it out to be._

Ignoring Terence as he was reading the document, Dr. McKay turned to address Hermiod.

"Can we contact _Atlantis_ over subspace?"

"Certainly. Is this information so fascinating?" The Asgard asked with a skeptical blink of his eyes.

"Maybe. But it certainly shows we've struck gold with this database."

"Yes, but I don't think it quite warrants breaking our radio silence over, Dr. McKay." Terence told him as he finished reading what had him so excited. "We already notified _Atlantis _we had the database before we jumped into hyperspace."

"But-"

"But nothing," Terence insisted. "If we break radio silence now the Asurans will be able to pinpoint our location and likely intercept us or did you forget how intel says they've reverse engineered our interdictor technology? That the only reason we're not making a direct run to Lantea and taking a roundabout route instead is to avoid getting caught? Or would you fancy us going up against an Asuran fleet on our lonesome?"

Dr. McKay pouted, but relented.

"I guess I'll just get back to work on sorting through the database then."

"You do that," Terence said with a nod and stepped away from the console that Dr. McKay had been using and returned to his own.

"That was awesome, Major. I've never seen anyone, not even Colonel Sheppard, put Dr. McKay down so quickly and firmly as that." Dr. Novak said as he passed her.

"It needed to be done." Terence told her with a shrug as he got back to his work.

* * *

Terence was having a break after working for two straight hours and had wandered onto the _Theseus_' bridge where he relayed the discovery Dr. McKay made to both Colonel Ellis and Colonel Sheppard, who had been up there too.

"You made the right call, Major." Colonel Ellis said with a frown. "Don't you agree Sheppard?"

"Totally," Sheppard said with a nod. "Thanks for reining McKay in. He gets like that sometimes."

"Trust me, Major, we all know." Terence told his superior with a grin. "Dr. McKay is kinda notorious."

Sheppard winced but didn't disagree.

After that Colonel Ellis had dismissed Terence and he had joined Sheppard in observing things on the bridge, apparently he was trying to pick up how things were run. If the SGC's reports were to be believed, one never knew when the skill would prove useful.

He'd been at it for fifteen minutes or so when the ship suddenly lurched and they dropped out of hyperspace.

A number of people had fallen over at the sudden movement and had received injuries. Terence thankfully wasn't one of them having managed to grab a handhold and avoiding a nasty fall. Even as he regained his bearings though, he saw uninjured or mildly wounded members of the crew were quickly and calmly tending to their more heavily injured compatriots while others began manning stations that had lost their operators

_Wow! This is quite an impressive level of professionalism on display._

"Report!" Colonel Ellis shouted.

"We got caught in a hostile interdiction field." The sensor officier reported. "Detecting a lone Asuran cruiser vectoring in to engage us."

"Only one?" Colonel Ellis asked.

"Yes sir," The junior officer confirmed.

"We're in the ass end of nowhere," Colonel Sheppard commented from over at the Navigation station. "They must have stumbled over us by chance."

"Sir, the enemy cruiser is deploying strike craft! Reading five Minervas, shielded type and a single Vuclan."

"Sheppard!"

"Already on it, I hope you have a spare bird for me." Sheppard said as he raced off the bridge.

"Tell the hangar crew to prep a 302 for the Colonel." Colonel Ellis told the tactical officer who nodded and relayed the order. "And spin up our flak batteries."

"Major Tan, I suggest you strap yourself in," Colonel Ellis said distractedly as he read some readouts on his console. "It's about to get bumpy."

Nodding Terence did as he was told and strapped himself into a spare chair at the rear of the bridge, one that gave him a nice view of everything to continue his observation.

_I didn't intend it to be like this, but I guess observing how everything works during combat operations will be helpful._

That it gave a literal front row seat as the _Theseus_ charged straight towards the enemy cruiser was a bonus.

"Launch the "Fly Swatter"s in tubes one through eight." Colonel Ellis ordered. "Let's soften up the opposition a little for our birds."

"Missiles away," the tactical officer declared even as Terence saw the missiles streaking ahead of the _Theseus _from the bridge's forward facing viewport and detonate in a cluster of small explosions just shy of the enemy strike craft.

"Two Minervas down." The sensors officer said, confirming what Terence had observed with his mark one eyeball. "Minimal damage on the others. Fighter contact in three. Two. One. Contact."

As the young woman manning the sensors said, the two sets of fighters had just entered each others' engagement ranges and had promptly devolved into a fierce skirmish.

"302s, take your fight away from us." Colonel Ellis ordered. "I don't want any crossfire."

"_Roger!_" The fighters' pilots chorused over the radio as they began to lure their fight with the enemy mecha out of the paths of the two still closing capital ships.

They had largely accomplished this when the tactical officer looked up from his console and declared. "Entering range of plasma beams."

"Fire at will!" Colonel Ellis ordered in turn. "Launch "Snake Eater"s in tubes nine to sixteen. Then reload all tubes."

"Yes sir," the tactical officer replied as he scrambled to carry out his instructions.

At his deft hands the _Theseus_ began exchanging blows with the Asuran cruiser. Plasma beams from both sides lanced at each other across the void, splashing against their shields and causing them to flare brilliantly. The BC-304's salvo of missiles streaked through space moments behind the energy beams and were mostly intercepted by the Replicator cruiser's point defense but a lone missile managed to slip through. Detonating against its shield, it lit up the battlefield with the short lived micro sun it left in its wake.

All in all the smaller, more agile _Theseus_ was clearly coming out the winner of the fight, taking only one hit for every four it inflicted on the enemy by using its superior mobility to dance around its opposition. Not that the Asurans were going to take _that _lying down.

"Drone launch!" The sensor officier shouted urgently as the _Theseus_ finished a particularly punishing attack run.

"Throw up some flak." Colonel Ellis ordered, even as the _Theseus _shuddered with the characteristic feel of a Asuran Drone slamming into the shields. "Time to taste those new point defense guns."

Said new guns were a comprehensive point defense grid designed by the Cylons onboard the _Graystone_ and installed on all Expedition ships over the course of a series of refits. Guns that were currently firing explosive clouds of small metal projectiles in a way not unlike shooting buckshot out of a shotgun, which proceeded to create a cloud of flak around the Expedition ships that was proven to be effective in neutralizing incoming Drones and deterring swarming Wraith Darts.

The former function was on full display today for Terence as he saw dozens of the Asuran's Drones prematurely detonate harmlessly out of range of the _Theseus_' shields thanks to its cloud of protective flak.

"Take us around for another pass," Colonel Ellis ordered, as he too observed the effectiveness of their flak screen.

The next few passes were practically mundane. The _Theseus_ took a few hits but in return dealt at least three more. It thus came as no surprise that the Asuran vessel was soon stripped of its shields.

"Colonel Ellis," Terence shouted as the sensors officer reported that fact. "We should capture that ship! We can study its interdictor technology and possibly develop a counter."

"Good suggestion, Major." Colonel Ellis complimented. "Tactical, hit that cruiser with a keron disruption pulse."

"Done sir," the tactical officer reported as a nearly invisible burst of energy spread out over the local area of space. "Enemy vessel has gone silent."

"Sensors?" Colonel Ellis said, turning to the aforementioned officer for a second opinion.

"I'm reading most Replicators as inert on board the enemy cruiser, sir. Based on earlier readings I'm estimating we got 80% of them. They're spread out though, which is strange."

"Only 80%?" Colonel Ellis asked the question on everyone's minds.

_If those that survived are spread out and not clustered in some shielded section or other then it can only mean that they've adapted to resist our keron disruptors. This is bad news!_

"Colonel-"

"I understand the implications, Major." The _Theseus _CO said as he turned to his tactical officer. "Tactical, beam over four squads of the on duty marines and secure the enemy ship. Advise them that there will still be hostiles onboard. Order them to secure one of the hostiles if possible. Online if possible."

"Yes sir," the junior officer said as he hurriedly began relaying his commander's orders.

"As for you Major," Colonel Ellis said, glancing back at Terence who was already midway through unbuckling his seat. "Sit down. As much as I appreciate you volunteering to assist. By the time you and your team gears up, my men would have finished securing the Asuran ship."

That probably wasn't true. But Terence got the Colonel's point. He wanted him to stay out of it. The Major could think of a dozen different reasons why, some good, some bad, but no valid one for refusing the order. As such Terence reluctantly obeyed and strapped himself back into his seat.

"Sir! The enemy Vulcan just broke through the fighter screen. It's headed right for us!"

"Fire tubes one through three," Colonel Ellis ordered calmly.

Three "Fly Swatter" missiles launched from the _Theseus_' VLS (vertical launching system) missile tubes and streaked towards the incoming Asuran Mobile Suit which was leveling its lance at the Tau'ri battlecruiser and firing an unrelenting stream of plasma bolts. These splashed more or less harmlessly against the capital ship's shield, barely denting their strength, but the missiles sent against it in kind were nowhere as generous in their impact.

Going off in the cloud of explosions that characterised the "Fly Swatter", the three missiles hit the Vulcan dead on and left it a damaged wreck. One which an eager F-302 promptly proceeded to finish off with its railguns.

"Sir, Colonel Sheppard is on the comms."

"Put him on," Colonel ordered the comms officer.

"_Thanks Theseus for the assist,"_ Sheppard's voice crackled over the radio.

"Glad to help," Colonel Ellis replied. "How's the other enemy bogeys?"

"_Almost all sewed up. Their shields are a pain to deal with, but we're managing. Sorry for letting this one get by us."_

"No issues. At least so long as you quickly finish off the rest of its friends."

"_Gotcha. I'll get right onto that. Sheppard out."_

"Sir, the marines are reporting that they have secured the Asuran cruiser's bridge and have turned the interdiction field off." The tactical officer said as soon as Sheppard finished speaking.

"I can confirm that, sir." The sensor officer followed up immediately.

Nodding at his colleague, the tactical officer continued. "The marines have split off a couple of teams to hunt down the remaining Replicators down. They're also requesting some backup."

"Beam over the rest of the standby force, then have the off duty teams gear up and standby. Also check with the teams on the cruiser if they have control of the hyperdrive and sublight."

The tactical officer conferred softly with someone over his headset, presumably the commander of the marines on the Asuran ship, for a moment before turning to give Colonel Ellis a firm nod and elaborating. "They have control of the systems but they've not secured the respective engines themselves."

"Goo-"

"Sir!" Sensors shouted suddenly. "I've just picked up incoming hyperspace contacts, ETA two minutes."

"Tell the marines that controlling the systems is good enough. We need to get out of there before more Asurans show up. Get them to immediately set a course for Lantea. Then call back our birds."

"Yes sir," the tactical officer said as he got to work.

Terence watched with thinly veiled awe as Colonel Ellis and his crew proceeded to recover the _Theseus_' fighters - who sadly had lost five pilots as the cost for destroying the totality of the enemy squadron - without the slightest bit of panic despite the rush they were in and managed to jump to hyperspace with the captured Asuran cruiser following closely behind a full thirty seconds before the two minute window they had expired.

Unbeknownst to anyone aboard the Expedition vessel, when the Asurans did jump out of hyperspace ten seconds after the Expedition forces had departed and proceeded to review the battle, they would come away equally impressed by the small but mighty _Theseus_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done!
> 
> As usual, I hope you guys like it. Let me know what worked and what didn't in a review.
> 
> Till next time, xatirgirtinî!


	17. Sins of the Past - The Arcturus Project

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of the IPs from which any imported elements may originate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Pegasus War**

**Chapter Seventeen: Sins of the Past - The Arcturus Project**

**Beta: **

* * *

As the light of the transporter faded and the chiming sound that accompanied the Asgard style matter transport faded, Royen found himself in the surprisingly utilitarian looking Ancient Output that AR-1 had discovered on the world known as Doranda. Said outpost was home to a Lantean research project codenamed Arcturus, which was an attempt by the Ancients to extract zero point energy from their own universe. They had hoped that with this project, they would be able to replace their Zero Point Modules with an even more efficient and powerful alternative.

Most interestingly, and perhaps indicative of the Lanteans' desired use for the new power source they were developing, the prototype power generator was directly tied to an energy weapon. A weapon that if the debris field that surrounded Doranda was any indication had kept the planet safe from the Wraith, but which was thankfully deactivated alongside its power source when the Expedition had stumbled across the world.

"Lord Royen, I'm glad you're finally here." A harried looking Tau'ri scientist said as he came over. "Dr. McKay left us a whole list of things he wanted us to do and well…"

Royen winced. Dr. McKay had _not _been happy that despite discovering the Arcturus device he was not assigned to the team overseeing its study. As the Expedition's resident expert on energy systems, that honor had fallen to Royen by order of Dr. Weir herself. To that effect, he could only imagine what kind of onerous tasks the peeved doctor would subject on his subordinates before departing the project.

"Let me look at that list," Royen said kindly. "Perhaps we can cut some of the more redundant things out."

The Tau'ri scientist - _Dr. Collins_, Enjol supplied helpfully. - handed a tablet opened onto a word processor document with a substantial list of instructions. Roughly half of them had been crossed out indicating that they'd been carried out, but that still left several dozen tasks undone.

_That's quite the list. _Royce noted with exasperation.

_Many of them are valid, but others…_

_Are superfluous. _Royen finished for Enjol.

Quickly making some modifications to the list of remaining tasks, Royen headed the tablet back to Dr. Collins.

"Here you go, Doctor." Royen told the man soothingly.

"This should be a lot more manageable. My men-" Royen said gesturing to the additional Expedition scientists that he'd brought with him. "-will assist you. Let me know when you're done and I'll give you new instructions."

"Thank you Lord Royen. We'll get started immediately." Dr. Collins said with a sigh of relief as he reviewed the shortened list.

Smiling at having helped ease the poor man's nerves, Royen turned to get started. Dr. Collins' list had helped him get a grasp on what the Expedition staff had done on Doranda so far, mainly preliminary checks that all the Outpost and the device's systems were operating after however much time had passed since it had been abandoned by the Ancients.

_Now let's don't we find out _why _they abandoned this project, shall we? _Royen thought as he moved over to an empty Ancient terminal. _Perhaps the outpost's logs will enlighten us._

* * *

Royen frowned as he reviewed what he'd gleamed from the logs. It seemed the Lanteans had abandoned the Arcturus project because as power output increased, new and exotic particles were continuously created and destroyed inside the containment chamber, interacting with each other, and with the field itself. Eventually, particles were created that could not be predicted in their space-time and they breached the containment field as hard radiation.

_And such an overload was what killed the original Lantean scientists whose bodies AR-1 found when they discovered this facility. _Enjol noted. _Is it wise to tamper with such a dangerous device?_

_It is risky. I'll admit that. However, the risks are not insurmountable. _Royce countered. _If we use a magical discernment field as part of the containment system and then to shunt all unknown particles it captures into a pocket reality we should be fine._

_That might work. _Royen allowed. _However, the power expenditure needed to maintain such a pocket reality would be extreme. At a guess, they'll likely negate any advantage in power generation this Arcturus Device would offer over our existing power systems._

_Probably, but that's an issue of efficiency. One we can refine over time, no?_

_Royce is right. This device is _very _promising. _Enjol added, sounding enthusiastic. _We should not abandon it simply because it might not immediately yield results._

_You are both correct. _Royce conceded. _However, we _must _proceed with caution. This device is highly dangerous._

This was met with mental nods of agreement from both of his component personalities.

His mental conversation complete and his decision made, he promptly got started on implementing what was required. It took about fifteen minutes to brief his team on what needed to be done. Thankfully, they didn't need to wait for fresh supplies from _Atlantis _to do so. Having foreseen from the outset that a magical discernment field and the creation of a pocket reality might be necessary, among a half dozen or so other potential solutions, Royen had brought along all the equipment to set up all of them should the need arise.

As such once they were told what needed to be done, his team, as expected, begun working diligently. Of course, they also took the opportunity to swap stories about recent happenings.

"So, Claire, what was your pick for most interesting event last week?" Dr. Collins asked his female colleague as they conducted a detailed structural scan of the Arcturus Device's existing containment systems.

"Why don't you tell me yours, first?" Claire said disinterestedly.

Undeterred by her lack of enthusiasm, D. Collins chuckled and continued. "My vote goes to when that Lucius Lavin, used a drug to attempt to mind control the Expedition and got himself shot in the head for his troubles when the immune Jaffa and Goa'uld complements of the Expedition figured out what was going on."

"That jerk was just lucky that it was the Jaffa who got to him first, if it was a Chiropteran or Reetou he'd likely been torn to pieces, kicking and screaming." Claire told him with a snarl. "Did you know he tried using his drug to get cozy with some of us ladies?"

Collins winced. "I didn't know that no. Did he-"

"Nah. Thankfully, I didn't catch his attention. But one of my friends did, thankfully he was put down before he could do anything. But yeah, that's nowhere near my most _interesting _incident of the week."

"Sorry." Dr. Collins said sheepishly. "I'll, uh, just shut up now."

Claire sighed. "Look, you didn't know. It's not your fault. I tell you what, I'll play ball. You want to know what I think was the most interesting thing to happen in the past week?"

Dr. Collins had the grace to try and shake his head, but Claire just rolled her eyes and kept going.

"Personally, I think Ronon surviving against multiple Wraith hunting parties after he got recaptured by the Wraith and forced to be a Runner again is loads more worthy. He had to do it on Sateda no less." The female scientist gushed. "I can just imagine the traumatic memories that must've brought up but he still managed to push pass it and fought like a legend!"

"A legend that needed saving from Colonel Sheppard and the rest of his team."

"Even legends need saving sometimes," the woman insisted. "Besides they are his teammates. You know how tight knit AR teams are. There was no way that Colonel Sheppard would leave him behind."

"As interesting as this discussion is, my friends." Royen told the two junior scientists. "It's time to get to work. So perhaps you could finish it later."

"Sorry, sir." The two chastised scientists chorused.

"Are they all like this?" Norina Pero asked with an amused grin.

Miss Pero was a Taranian scientist that had after some political wrangling between her government and the Expedition leadership had been given a position as an observer/intern in the Expedition Technical Sciences Department.

"Always," Royen replied with a grin of his own. "Everyone is very close in the Expedition since we're all so far from home and only have each other. So we tend to banter a lot, even when it isn't really appropriate."

"I see." Norina modded. "Is that why Rodney likes to talk so much when he's working?"

"No offense to your boyfriend Miss Pero, but I think that's more to do with McKay being McKay than anything else." Royen said distractedly as he handed her a tablet computer. "Track the readings there please and alert me if you see anything unusual."

Norina nodded and got to work.

They had been working for about five hours and his team was just conducting a low output test on the newly augmented containment systems when Royen's kara kesh beeped loudly to indicate an urgent hail from the orbiting escort flotilla commanded by Captain Tommen.

Frowning, the child of Nimue activated the comm link and greeted the Ohne commander as a holographic projection of his face materialized. "Captain Tommen, what is it?"

"_We've just detected a sizable Asuran force heading towards the system on our long range sensors."_ The Ohne told him with a fierce frown. "_Since they rerouted from their patrol pattern immediately after you activated the Arcturus Device, my guess is that the Asurans must have detected the device's activation."_

"How large are we talking about?"

"_It's one of their border patrol fleets. One of those designed to deter the Wraith from raiding into their territory, so it's substantial. We read at least six Auroras and eighteen cruisers."_

_The Captain's fleet only has three Ha'taks, five Shel'taks, seven Al'kesh and his own destroyer._

"Slightly better than two to one odds then?"

"_Almost." _The captain said with a sigh. "_But only if you count Al'kesh as capitals, which I don't. Can you bring that weapon on the surface online? We could use it as fire support."_

"Reinforcements won't arrive in time?"

"_Not likely. The weapon?"_

"We'll need some time to make sure it doesn't blow up the solar system." Royen told him seriously. With how unstable the Arcturus Device could be, that was a real possibility.

The Ohne grimaced but nodded. "_Work as fast as you can."_

"We will." Royen told him. "Hold out as long as you can."

"_Of course. But prepare your men to be beamed up at a moment's notice. If the situation becomes untenable we _will _retreat."_

"Duly noted. Good luck, Captain."

"_You as well, child of Nimue."_

As the hologram faded, Royen turned to address his team.

"You heard the man. We need to hurry. Get cracking!"

* * *

"Sir, the Asuran fleet just dropped out of hyperspace at the edge of interdiction range and is deploying strike craft." The _Explorer_'s sensors officer reporte even as Tommen saw for himself on the tactical display as the hostile red triangles that were the Asuran ships blinked into existence.

"Deploy fighters and have all ships ready their flak batteries," Tommen ordered. "Prepare to-"

"Sir! The Asurans are hailing us!"

"That's unusual," Tommen commented as he turned to his comms officer. "Put them on screen."

"Yes sir," the junior officer said as he toggled the controls of his console and brought up an image of a willowy, long haired brunette human looking woman wearing the typical Asuran dress that exposed much of the shoulders.

"_I am Struatta, commander of the Asuran Thirteenth Border Patrol Group."_ The Replicator said in a commanding voice. "_In the name of all that is sane, I implore you to immediately shut down the Arcturus Device. You know not what you are dealing with here._"

"And you do?" Tommen countered.

"_The Device is an unstable prototype energy generation system which our creators never perfected. One which if activated_ will _lead to catastrophic consequences."_

"We are aware of that much. Which is precisely why we cannot hand the Device over to you."

"_We do not seek to acquire the Device!" _Struatta spat. "_We seek to _destroy it. _Preferably, before it can unleash its destructive potential. If we had known its location before now, we would have destroyed it already."_

"A likely story."

"_I speak only the truth. Refuse to believe it as you will, Ohne." _The Asuran said, slightly surprising Tommen that she knew his race. Intel had said the Replicators and the Wraith had both acquired substantial amounts of intel on the Expedition, including the races involved but to hear it confirmed was still surprising.

Letting none of his surprise show, Tommen continued to stall for time. "Assuming I do believe you, what are you saying? You're only here to destroy the Device? What about me and my men?"

"_Your forces may leave the system unmolested by mine."_ Struatta offered. "_Consider it a gesture of goodwill on my part for allowing us to do the right thing."_

"I'm afraid I cannot accept that."

"_Then you have made your choice. You'll be destroyed along with the Device."_

With that the comm link was severed and tactical hissed in annoyance. "Asuran virus detected. Cylon firewall has it contained."

"Good," Tommen declared, turning to his sensors officer. "The enemy is accelerating their advance. They'll be in Drone range shortly."

"Order all ships to open up flak screens and advance to engagement range." Tommen ordered. "And have all fighters engage the enemy."

Looking at the tactical display he watched with unease as a host of smaller ovoid shaped markers appeared next to the markers indicating the enemy capital ships and streaming towards his own ships. Even with the new flak screens' proven effectiveness, the Asuran Drones still worried him. He therefore only breathed a sigh of relief once the Drones stopped coming for now.

"Entering torpedo range," Tommen's XO announced from where he was leading over the tactical officer's shoulder to read his detailed tactical display

"Fire a brace." Tommen ordered, already knowing the likely outcome.

As expected, the Asuran simply countered by intercepting his photon torpedoes with their own Drones.

_Well, that's one tactic they've well and truly developed a counter to._

"Entering range of main guns now," Tommen tactical officer reported.

"Fire at will!" Tommen ordered.

* * *

What followed was a definition of a losing battle, with Tommen's outnumbered flotilla steadily losing ground to the Asurans as the latter used every attempt by his ships to temporarily disengage and recharge their shields to push ahead. A problem that was only exacerbated when he started to lose ships.

"Sir! The _Zhèngyì_ has been sunk." Tommen's sensors officer reported with a barely audible but clearly worried hiss.

Tommen didn't blame him. With the loss of the _Zhèngyì_, one of their three Ha'taks, his fleet had lost a large chunk of its firepower. Combine that to the earlier loss of the Shel'tak _Rhongomiant_, his fleet was on the verge of a complete rout.

"Sir, if we're to retreat. Now would be the best time, while we still have enough firepower to cover it."

Tommen frowned but had to acknowledge his XO's point.

"Or-"

"Sir!" The sensors officer shouted, cutting Tommen off. "Incoming fire from the surface! It's targeting the Asuran fleet!"

"Lord Royen certainly likes cutting it close," Tommen opined with a sigh of relief.

"He certainly does," his XO agreed.

_Though better close than never. _Tommen thought as he watched the fire from the planet tear the Asuran fleet apart. The weapon's unbelievable rate of fire sending a river of blue plasma that ripped the by now fleeing Asuran ships apart.

"Sir, text message from the Asurans."

"Read it," Tommen ordered his comms officer.

"Well played, Captain Tommen. Well played. Signed, Commander Struatta."

"Looks like you've earned their respect, Captain." His XO offered with a chuckle.

"And I'd rather just see them all dead," Tommen shot back. "But I suppose this will be a nice consolation prize. For now."

* * *

In the aftermath of the Skirmish at Dorunda, Royen found himself back on _Atlantis _briefing the Expedition senior staff about the potential of the Arcturus Project.

"At best Dr. Weir, the Dorunda Device is a proof of concept device. One that has failed in one major regard: cost effectiveness. The containment systems for the generator is simply too expensive, making its mass production prohibitively costly. In addition, takes to the nature of key containment systems siphoning off a significant portion of the generated power to maintain themselves, the net energy output of such Arcturus Devices offer very little advantage in comparison to other power sources. Particularly the more cost effective if slightly lower yield generators such as Hyperspace Tap Energy Collection Arrays and Neutrino-ion generators."

"But we can refine the containment systems to be more cost effective," Dr. McKay insisted.

"We could," Royen allowed. "However, that will take years of research. For the time being at least, the Arcturus Device is simply not a viable option for our use on a large scale."

Dr. McKay deflated at the blunt assessment even as there was a gleam in his eyes that told Royen that he would be working on proving him wrong for the next few weeks. At least. The child of Nimue wished him luck. If he did indeed found a solution to the problem then it would be a massive boon to the Expedition and the broader Coalition. Not that Royen held out much hope.

"As disheartening as this might sound, this operation has not entirely been a failure." Chevalier Marc said into the uneasy silence that had followed Royen's report. "At least we now an entirely new planet with a powerful defensive system already in place."

"That is true," Dr. Weir agreed. "Lord Royen, could you brief us on the capabilities of the Dorunda weapon, so that we can see about supplementing it and properly secure the planet?"

"It would be my pleasure, Dr. Weir." Royen said with a bow. "The weapon is a-"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done!
> 
> As usual I hope you guys liked it. Do let me know if you did or didn't.
> 
> Till next time, afscheid!


	18. Sins of the Past - Cradle of the Wraith

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of the IPs from which any imported elements may originate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Pegasus War**

**Chapter Eighteen: Sins of the Past - Cradle of the Wraith**

**Beta: **

* * *

Terence and his team were off duty for a couple of days and as was fast becoming the norm for them they had decided to spend that time on the Lantean mainland with their Lacuan friends. Usually, that just meant spending their dinners and much of the night having drinks at the Crossroads Tavern but occasionally, like tonight, they spent time in the Lacuan settlement.

"So have you had a chance to visit the port city that the human subjects of the Lantean Hive have built? What do they call it again?"

"Xīngǎng," Terence supplied.

"Exactly, sister, have you managed to visit Xīngǎng?" Wrex asked Yelana as they sipped some good ol' Lacuan ale after enjoying the sumptuous dinner the young woman had provided them.

"I have. Guildmaster Trask asked me and a few others to accompany him when he went into the city to see if he could do some trading."

"So how did you find it?" Yod asked before Wrex could, earning himself an annoyed glare in the process.

"A little strange to be honest," Yelana admitted. "I've never seen or even heard about anything like the architecture they use over there. And the languages they spoke were so exotic too. Thank goodness the Guildmaster had the foresight to get his hands on one of your translators or I doubt we would have managed to understand anything."

"It's no surprise those seem surprising to you. Most Pegasus cultures seem to take their influence from European cultures. In contrast, the culture of the people of Xīngǎng are heavily influenced by Earth's medieval Chinese, Japanese and Korean civilizations. Here, let me show you."

With that Terence pulled out his tablet computer and calling up a slideshow of images, he passed it to his girlfriend to take a look.

"Incredible, the similarity is uncanny. And you say the people of Xīngǎng don't come directly from these Earth cultures?"

"Sadly, no." Terence said talking his computer back. "Most human nations in the Milky Way have links to Earth cultures, but that's because their ancestors were taken offworld from those cultures by the Goa'uld in the ancient past. That's why you can often find a smattering of their cultural influence too. Some though have managed to buck these trends and developed pretty unique cultures."

"That sounds fascinating. I wish I could see some of these cultures for myself one day."

"I promise to give you a grand tour of Earth and the Milky Way someday." Terence told Yelana sincerely, earning himself a loving smile of gratitude and a shy blush in return.

Wrex coughed dramatically, pulling the two lovebirds out of their slight trance. Blushing furiously at the reminder that they weren't alone, the couple hurriedly looked away from each other. In the process, they caught the amused faces of their companions. Or was that chaperones? Probably both.

"Okay, let's talk about something else. Something that won't let these two get lost in each other again." Wrex said with a chuckle and a gesture towards Terence and his sister.

"Yeah. As amusing as it to watch, it gets old." Yod said with a chuckle of his own.

"Agreed," Larry said with a kind smile. "But what _should _we talk about?"

"Well, I do have a question." Wrex offered.

"Ask away," Terence said after taking a sip of his ale to help him regain his composure.

"Well, things have been tense on _Atlantis _and nobody seems to be willing to tell me why. Any ideas?"

"Who have you been asking?" Larry asked with a frown. "I'm pretty sure no one has been keeping what's going on a secret."

Wrex actually rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "The other Pegasus natives mainly. I didn't want to ask someone from the Milky Way since they're the ones who are all tense. Didn't want to set them off, you know? But no one from Pegasus seems to know what's going on. Did something happen back in the Milky Way?"

The three Tau'ri looked at each other for a moment, before Yod and Larry both nodded towards Terence. Sighing, he bit the bullet and did his duty as the superior officer.

"We don't actually know for sure what's going on to be honest." Terence admitted. "But a whole bunch of strange preachers from a previously unknown faith known as Origin just started showing up on planets and began converting their inhabitants. Jade and Albion claim they're also causing a whole lot of trouble besides, but the rest of the Coalition hasn't confirmed anything yet. So…"

"What kind of trouble?" Wrex asked, his eyes narrowed.

"Staging terrorist attacks and fostering rebellions," Terence told him. "But I stress, we have no confirmation of this yet. Other Coalition members have made contact with these preachers too and haven't had any problems with them."

"So you don't believe Jade and Albion?" Yelana asked, biting her lower lip nervously.

"We do!" Terence insisted. "It's just- These are serious accusations to make and the rest of the Coalition need confirmation before they can act."

"Sounds complicated," Wrex said with a frown.

"Politics always is," Larry said with a frown of his own.

"Will it affect the Expedition?" Yelana asked fearfully. "Or worse, will these preachers come to the Pegasus?"

"God willing they won't," Larry offered with a nod. "We have enough problems here already."

"But if they did come," Yod offered with a grin. "I'm sure the Major will be more than happy to protect you from the nasty priest."

"Yod!" Terence chided while fighting a blush.

"It is the truth is it not, sir?"

"Not you too, Larry!"

"I have to agree with the other two," Wrex offered with a smirk.

"Wrex? You too?"

"What you wouldn't?" AR-15's scout asked, still sporting that teasing smile.

"Of course I would," Terence declared without hesitation.

A conviction that was only strengthened by the beatific smile Yelana shot him at hearing his words.

* * *

A few days later, Terence and the rest of AR-15 found themselves part of a large force led by AR-1 as they escorted Dr. Jackson, Dr. Gardner, Miss Yuki and a team of other scientists and intelligence analysts as they all beamed down into a long abandoned Lantean facility on the world where they suspected the Wraith might have been created.

Despite searching for it since the sequencing of the Wraith's DNA and its accompanying revelations, they had only recently managed to discover its location and gate address via data mining of the _Atlantis _database.

The search for the birthworld of the Wraith was only one of the impacts caused by the revelations. Another was the ban on any attempts at creating a retrovirus to turn the Wraith into humans. Officially, this was due to the impossibility of such a procedure considering their complex genetic nature as any attempt would be more likely to kill the Wraith than anything, and there were more effective ways to do so. And the less said about the possibility of creating something _worse _than the Wraith, the better. A prospect made evident by the incident with the Wraith known as Ellia. This, of course, hadn't sat well with Dr. Beckett who had been developing the retrovirus but with both Dr. Weir _and _Coalition HIgh Command coming down hard on the matter, he'd grudgingly accepted the verdict.

Another consequence was the firm desire of the Asgard to know the truth of the matter. After the Vanir's confession in regards to their involvement in the creation of the Wraith, the Asgard had been hungry for the details. More so than anyone else in the Expedition. It was thus no surprise then that there were a fair number of Asgard in the party of experts that had come to this planet seeking out those answers.

"Basecamp is looking good, Miss Yuki, Dr. Jackson," Lt. Colonel Sheppard informed his fellow Department Heads as they stood in the centre of the aforementioned camp inside a large chamber full of deactivated consoles that they assumed used to be the command centre of the large ruined complex. "I have teams watching all entrances into the room and a few others scouting further out to set up some checkpoints."

"Sounds good, Colonel." Miss Yuki offered with a gracious smile. "Thank you for all the help with this. And for lending us Dr. McKay to help with the data retrieval."

"Just doing my job, mam." John told her seriously. "As for McKay, I'm sure he'd prefer toying with long dormant Ancient computers than playing guard duty. Besides, I think we'd all like to know what kinda stupid experiment led to creating the Wraith."

"You're right there, Co-"

Dr. Jackson was cut off when John's radio crackled to life.

"_Colonel, something just got past us and is headed for basecamp! Something big!" _The voice of Lieutenant Kun, commander of AR-18 said over the comms.

Giving his two senior colleagues a barely there apology, John ran towards the entrance AR-18 had left to explore down even as he tried to get more out of the Lieutenant.

"What kind of thing are we talking about?"

"_We didn't get a very good look. The thing was fast! It skittered right past us. All we can say is that it's some kind of man sized bug!"_

"Seriously?" John muttered incredulously.

Unfortunately for John's increasingly strained sense of disbelief this was precisely the moment that a large bluish blur skittered, there was no other way to describe it, out of the passage AR-18 had gone down and came into view. Much to his internal consternation it _was _a giant bug. With a bluish purple segmented carapace the human sized creature walked on four purely insectile derived hind limbs, and swung a pair of disturbingly humanoid forelimbs forward as it leapt at AR-15's Major Terence who stood shocked by the creature's disturbing appearance. John didn't blame the man, not when the abomination's head had an unsettling resemblance to an Asgard's, and a fang filled suction cup like mouth that reminded John unpleasantly of an Iratus bug.

Thankfully for the young Major, Ronon was on the ball and shot the damn thing with his particle magnum. The thing must have been quite light weight because the shot alone had sent it flying away from the startled Major, who finally recovered his wits and joined the rest of his team and John's in riddling the creature with fire. None of them stopping until the last of its twitching stopped. No one was in the mood for taking any chances.

"That took a hell of a lot to put down," Chief Yod observed with a frown. "My armor's sensors say it was still kicking even after it had taken a good dozen hits."

"Yeah," John said as he examined the corpse carefully with his combat knife. "If there are any more of these things we might be in trouble here."

"I agree," Miss Yuki said as she joined him by the corpse and looked at it in morbid fascination, before looking up to face him. "I'll push the teams to work as quickly as they can."

John nodded and turned to the other soldiers while toggling his radio to address all his men at once. "Alright, men. We have some company, so be on the lookup of monstrous bugs. No, that's sadly not a joke. We can't let anything, these monsters or otherwise, get through to the scientists. That clear?"

As he received affirmatives from the various teams, John spared one last look at the creature's corpse which even now was being scraped up into a storage container for further analysis back on _Atlantis_.

_Why the hell does the universe have to be full of so many crazy things? _

Shaking his head at the cruelty of the universe, John got back to work. He had a perimeter to urgently set up.

* * *

"I count a dozen this time," Yod shouted over the noise of the team's various weapons firing at the latest wave of what Larry had coined "chimeras" came skittering down the hall towards the position AR-15 had set up.

"Is it just me or are these packs getting bigger?" Wrex asked as he sprayed plasma bolts in the general direction of the fast moving creatures, scoring only a hit or two for every dozen or so shots.

Yes, the damned things attacked in packs. Worse yet, they seemed to be attracted by sound and as such every time that they dealt with one pack, the sound of their weapons acted like a clarion call for the next pack to come calling.

"Yes, they do seem to be getting larger. Epoximise!" Larry agreed as he sent a spell downrange that conjured a sticky substance over a patch of the floor that caught a trio of the advancing 'chimeras' that he quickly followed up with a grenade from his mokeskin pouch that promptly dealt with them.

Even with the two or three they'd taken out so far this still left about half the pack heading towards them. Thankfully, they were still a distance away and so AR-15 were more than able to kill them all before they got anywhere close. None of them even wanted to try the things in close combat. AR-7 had the misfortune of being forced into exactly that, only to find that despite weighing practically nothing the damned things were quite strong and the less said about their ability to feed like a Wraith the better.

"Yod?" Terence asked as the last of the latest pack collapsed into a dead heap.

"Sensors are saying nothing's close," the Power Armor wearing Heavy said. "I think we've got time for a breather."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief at that. They'd been under near constant attack since they'd set up their position behind a set of Larry's conjured stone walls.

_That's a relief. _Terence thought to himself as he took a swig of his canteen. His brief moment of rest was ruined though when their radio came to life.

"_This is Captain Sansurin, we're retreating back to the second line. There's just too many of them." _The leader of the squad of Thai marines that had been securing one of the other corridors said over the radio.

"Well shit, that makes us the only guys left on the third line ain't it?" Yod noted with a grimace.

"Unfortunately," Terence agreed.

"Think we should fall back too? We can link up with AR-18 if we do." Larry suggested.

"Major! They're coming!" Wrex said from where he was pressing his ear to the ground. "A lot of them."

"Yod?"

"More than two dozen of the buggers." The Heavy reported. "Major, I really recommend a retreat right about now!"

Looking at his wary men, Terence knew he had no choice.

"Alright, we'll fall back."

* * *

Even as Terence and the other soldiers fought to hold the line against the chimeric creatures, Daniel, Sarah and the other experts are working hard to decipher the substantial amount of logs the facility had stored in its database. They were so focused on their task that even as the sound of heavy gunfire echoed through the facility's corridors told them that there were indeed more of those chimeric monsters, neither Daniel or Sarah flinched. They had both been through far too much to be spooked so easily.

Their subordinates did not quite have the same nerves of steel as they did however and occasionally flinched at a particularly loud burst of gunfire. Especially as they seemed to be getting closer and closer lately.

After one such long exchange, one of the junior linguists finally couldn't take it anymore and looking up from the computer he'd been working on he speared Miss Yuki with a frightened look.

"Mam, pardon my ignorance, but why aren't we just copying all the data and reviewing it on the safety of our ships in orbit?"

Daniel was about to answer for the distracted Chevalier who was busy helping the soldiers keep watch for more of the abominations with her butterflies when Sarah beat him to it.

"Because Dr. Vyacheslavovich whoever worked in this facility had put in place some rather impressive protections. We've been able to hack through the protections and gain access to read the data off the facility's terminals but any attempt to copy them have so far failed."

"But-"

"Dr. McKay and the data scientists are working on it," Daniel jumped in. "But the protections are strong and it'll take time to crack."

"Time we do not have," Yuki said suddenly while sporting a frown. "The creatures just breached the second defense line. The men are retreating to the last line now. We won't have time to finish."

"We're going to abandon the operation?" Daniel asked with a frown of his own.

"For now," Yuki said with a sad nod. "We'll need to wait for more troops from Lantea before trying again. So pack it up everyone."

Daniel sighed in disappointment but repeated Yuki's call.

* * *

A week later, Sarah, Daniel and Miss Yuki sat in a small conference room set aside inside the main lab of the Cultural Studies Department to review the data the second expedition down to the abandoned Lantean lab on the Wraith birthworld had managed to recover.

"First off," Sarah said as she laid a computer with a plugged in detachable data drive in the centre of the round table. "After going through the personal logs that some of the scientists kept, we now have definitive proof that the Vanir and a rogue group of Lanteans created the Wraith. As part of what they claim to be an effort to rectify the Asgard's issues with the degradation of their clones."

"More importantly, we have discovered the _real _reason for the degradation in the first place." Daniel added. "Based on some of the references the scientists made it seems that it was the work of the Ori, more specifically its an Ascended technique that can best be translated as a 'curse'."

"Curses are indeed real. My people don't use them but we do know that wizards do. We've not had evidence that the Ori do but it's certainly possible." Miss Yuki responded thoughtfully.

Not for the first time Sarah felt a little jealousy as she looked at the eternal teenager's youthful beauty. It was a natural response she thought for any normal woman when faced with the other woman's superhuman good looks. As a result, she had to remind herself that this came with a cost however and one that had nothing to do with the Japanese woman's nature as a Chiropteran. The poor woman, according to her confidental personnel file at least, had been offered conversion, and hence her eternal youth, to save her life after she'd attempted suicide over being forced into a arranged marriage.

Her jealousy reined in with the reminder of the Chevalier's tragic past, Sarah continued where Daniel left off.

"If the scientists are to be believed, this 'curse' causes the genes of Asgard clones to degrade despite every precaution taken to prevent it and every method used to rectify it. And based on the timing when the degradation began to set in, it was likely deployed at about the same time as they unleashed the plague against the Alterans in the Milky Way."

"My Department concurs. Striking at the Alterans without also doing the same to their allies would be rather foolish, so it seems likely." Yuki concluded. "Does the data mention any similar attacks against the Nox or Furlings? We didn't find any."

"No, but a curse _would _explain the Nox's almost suicidal adherence to isolationism." Daniel mused idly. "And not just the extinction but the seeming near total eradication of the Furlings from history."

"What I don't understand though is if the Asgard's problems are a curse, how then is the issue finally being fixed now? Wouldn't the curse prevent it?"

"We've considered that and I think we might have an answer." Miss Yuki said, presenting a large ream of parchments. "At least the wizards in my department have. According to them, it's possible that after all this time, the Ori curse might have lost much of its potency. This coupled with the Asgard adding in genes from partially Ascended Beings into the DNA of their newest clones might also offer some resistance to it."

"That idea might have some merit." Daniel said with a thoughtful hum. "We know from the lab's experimental data that they began seeing improvement in regards to the rate of degradation once they started mixing in Lantean and Genestealer DNA."

"That was what led my wizards to come to their conclusion," Miss Yuki agreed.

"Though if that's the case why bother adding in the other elements that accidentally led to the creation of the Wraith?"

"It appears that just resistance was not enough to fully halt the degradation, just slow it down." Miss Yuki said, pointing to the ream of parchment which presumably contained the relevant conclusions. "In order to do that, the scientists decided to experiment by adding anything that seemed to add resistance to the curse and that included Iratus bug and human DNA."

"And the end result was the Wraith," Daniel noted with a frown. "Which eventually escaped and destroyed the facility."

"I can see why the Others are so reluctant to help the Asgard now," Miss Yuki said with a sigh. "And I don't blame them. With such a disastrous failure as this for a previous attempt, I'd be leery of trying again as well."

Nobody could argue with that.

* * *

Hermóðr shifted uncomfortably in his chair in the primary _Atlantis _conference room as the briefing continued. Not because the chair was uncomfortable, far from it. Whoever had prepared it had gone out of their way to design it to fit Asgard ergonomics perfectly. No, his discomfort stemmed from the subject matter he'd been called down to the cityship to discuss: the Wraith and his people's involvement in their creation.

_Perhaps I should have volunteered Hermiod to come in my stead? He is far more comfortable with the humans than I am. _Hermóðr thought as he shifted in this seat for the umpteenth time. _No, _I _am the commander of the Asgard contingent of the Atlantis Expedition. It is my duty to hear all this._

"Besides confirming our previous hypotheses," Dr. Weir said, finally getting to new information. "The task force sent to the Wraith's birthworld also discovered the reason behind the genetic degradation of your clones in the first place. We have evidence to suggest that it was an Ori curse."

"Are you saying that our race's predicament, our slow decline is the result of the _Ori_?" Hermóðr asked, shocked into stillness by this unexpected development.

"We have no conclusive proof," Dr. Weir cautioned. "But the scientists the Vanir worked with seemed quite certain that this was the case. And considering your alliance with the Alterans-"

"It is a valid conclusion." Hermóðr said with an angry blink of his eyes. "I trust you have the scientists' logs to corroborate your suspicions."

"We do. We've marked the relevant sections in the copies we sent over to the _Hala_."

"I shall present them to the High Council and use it to advocate they intensify their commitment to the effort to defeat the Ori." Hermóðr hissed, barely keeping his cool and sticking to diplomatic forms. "I should not make assurances, but- I swear on all I hold dear that we'll make the Ori pay for this travesty."

The normally eloquent Dr. Weir could only blink in shock, caught completely off guard by his vehemence.

While the Asgard and the Tau'ri had been friends for many years now. It was rare for their human friends to see an Asgard angry, perhaps except the irascible Hermiod. But even he tended more towards annoyance than true anger. It thus was not surprising that Dr. Weir would be startled by his open display of _fury_. Though he doubted any Asgard would react any differently if they learned that the _Ori _were responsible for attempting to doom their race to a slow death.

"And the Vanir?" The Expedition's leader said at last. "Will the your High Council's stance change with this confirmation of their involvement in creating the Wraith?"

"No," Hermóðr spat. "As previously discussed they are little more than criminals that will be hunted down and punished for their crimes. If anything, this confirmation only strengthens my disgust, and like that of many of my peers, towards them. That any members of our species would be a party to the creation of such a menace as the Wraith, even dissidents like the Vanir, is intolerable. In fact, I foresee that the High Council is likely to, if they're able, second even more ships to the Expedition to assist in the task of capturing these rogues."

"That's comforting to know." Dr. Weir said carefully. "Lastly, Hermóðr, on a more personal note, I want you to know that these revelations do not change my opinion of the Asgard. A sentiment that I think is true for most, if not all, of the members of the Expedition and the Coalition at large."

"I appreciate the sentiment Dr. Weir." Hermóðr accepted graciously. "More than you can know."

* * *

Even as Dr. Weir and Hermóðr were having a private meeting in the primary conference room, Daniel and Sarah were having dinner in the mess hall together. They had planned to make it a quiet evening after hours of hard work in the lab putting the finishing touches on their analysis of the data they'd recovered from the lab on the Wraith birthworld.

However, fate makes fools of the plans of mice and men. They were just sitting down at one of the tables with a waterfront view when McKay seated just one table behind them shouted at the top of his lungs at the approaching form of Colonel Sheppard.

"Hey Sheppard! Over here!"

Next to the excited scientist, his girlfriend looked mortified at his behavior.

"Rodney!" Miss Pero hissed. "What's wrong with you? Why are shouting across half the mess hall? Don't you know how rude it is?"

"It's rude?" Ronon Dex asked, looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

"It is in most cultures." Sarah informed the Satedan while spearing McKay with a glare.

The man should honestly know better. He was with his girlfriend in public! He shouldn't be doing something that could reflect badly on himself and more importantly his significant other.

"Rodney, is your hearing still out of whack?" Sheppard said as he took a seat.

"Yeah," McKay said a little too loudly. "Carson said it'll take a couple days before it's back to normal."

"What happened?" Miss Pero asked, alarmed. "Why is your hearing not working properly?"

"And does it have to do with the explosion we heard over in our labs?" Daniel asked, curiously.

They had indeed heard the sound of a moderately powerful explosion in the Technical Sciences labs in the opposite tower from their own earlier in the day.

"It's nothing," McKay tried to insist, but the sharp looks from both his girlfriend and his teammate Teyla shut him up.

"If you saw Carson then it's not nothing." Teyla insisted, Miss Pero nodding along fervently. "What happened?"

"He was toying around with one of the consoles we recovered from the Wraith birthworld, trying to crack its protections." Sheppard explained as he nonchalantly ate his food. "Apparently one of their failsafes was a self-destruct."

"And you got caught in it?" Daniel asked, his brows furrowed. "I'd have thought I would have been informed if one of my fellow Department Heads was involved in something like that."

"It wasn't quite that serious okay?" McKay said placatingly. "We had it contained in a shield when it exploded. We just didn't modulate it to account for the sound, is all. Ended up with a couple dozen of us with burst eardrums and the like."

"You had burst eardrums!?" Miss Pero asked, looking faint as she cupped her boyfriend's ears worriedly.

"He looks fine," Ronon observed. "That put you into that Sarcophagus thing?"

"No need," Sheppard clarified. "Carson just called up Magos Royen and had him use a Goa'uld healing device on those affected."

"Oh thank the Ancestors," Miss Pero breathed a sigh of relief.

"I think you should be thanking Magos Royen actually," Ronon said. "Sheppard, you want that potato?"

"You can't have it Chewie! It's mine!"

As AR-1 devolved into a playful fight over their food, Daniel was suddenly surprised by a beautiful laugh of amusement. Turning to see Sarah laughing enthusiastically at their antics and making her seem even more beautiful than ever, he couldn't help thinking a thought that had he'd been having off and on for the past few weeks.

_I want to marry this woman._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done!
> 
> I'm sorry if the chimeras are a little underwhelming. I couldn't think of a way to include them more without making it excessive.
> 
> Another potential failing of this chapter in my view that I can't think of a way to fix is the first and last scenes. They seem tacked on, but at the same time I like how they add to the story and its characters. Hopefully, it's not too bad.
> 
> Well, that's it this chapter. So till next time, kwaheri!


	19. Troubles at Home - Recalls to the Milky Way

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of the IPs from which any imported elements may originate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Pegasus War**

**Chapter Nineteen: Troubles at Home - Recalls to the Milky Way**

**Beta: **

* * *

It was late one night on _Atlantis _when Sarah was suddenly awakened by the doorbell to Daniel's quarters chiming.

"W-Who is it t-this late?" Sarah murmured barely intelligibly.

"Sarah, go back to sleep." Daniel said as kindly as he could in a sleepy slur. "I'll see who it is."

Sarah mumbled an unintelligible response before pulling the covers of their bed more tightly around herself, even as she felt the bed shifting as her boyfriend slipped off. She heard him struggling with his pants and cursing rather adorably as he bumped into things as he pulled them on. It was with this rather amusing lullaby that she began drifting back to sleep.

She never made it all the way back to slumberland though.

"Oma!?" Daniel's shout of confusion a moment later had Sarah shooting up in bed and looking at the door in alarm.

"It is good to see you are well Dr. Gardner," the almost grandmotherly blonde Ascended said with a slightly crooked smile whilst surrounded by a brilliant halo of power. "But I think you might want to cover up a little."

Only then did Sarah feel the air brushing against her naked skin and hastily grabbed the discarded bed covers to protect her modesty.

* * *

A short while later, Sarah and Daniel were sitting at the simple coffee table they'd set up by the window in Daniel's quarters and sharing some tea with their Ascended guest, Oma Desala. Both Sarah and Daniel had taken the time to take a quick shower in the en suite, a rare luxury that came from being an Expedition Department Head, and changed into some presentable clothing. All while their Ascended guest had apparently gone to explore the halls of _Atlantis_.

"So how are you finding _Altantis_, Oma?" Sarah asked, as she served their guest some tea.

"It's quite nice," the Ascended allowed with a polite smile. "But I do not really approve of how heavily your people have militarized the city. Though, I suppose it is necessary considering the threats here in the Pegasus galaxy."

"I'm afraid so," Daniel replied diplomatically.

"Oma, pardon me for being so blunt." Sarah cut in, knowing that if she left things to Daniel they'd be there all morning as he used diplomatic niceties to squeeze out what was going on from their guest. "But what are you doing here?"

"To give Daniel a little heads up, as your people say, about what has happened back in the Milky Way and what is about to happen."

"What do you mean?" Daniel asked, his eyes narrowed apprehensively.

"There has been a minor revolution in the Ascended Planes, Daniel." Oma told him. "Led by Ganos Lal, a sizable faction of Ascended have with the grudging approval of the Others been allowed to fight alongside the younger races against the Ori."

"That's-"

"Unprecedented? Yes, it is. But so is Nimue and the Swarm Queens killing of a number of Ori in battle. You are aware of that, correct?"

"We've read the reports," Daniel said with a nod. "That convinced the Others to allow this?"

Oma shrugged.

"It appears to have been, as you would say, the straw that broke the camel's back. Nimue and the Chiropterans have been living proof that Ascended _can _help the younger races grow without adversely influencing them. By their very existence, they have been swaying the opinion of the Others on the matter. If only they did not have a negative case study like-"

"Anubis," Sarah said in a terrified whisper.

Even if the vile Ascended Goa'uld was dead, his horrifying legacy continued to haunt her. Especially as her time as Osiris' host gave her a first hand view of some of his overlord's worst atrocities.

"Yes, Anubis." Oma said, looking away for a moment.

"Oma, I'm sorry." Daniel said on their behalf as she took one of Sarah's hands into his own and gave it a comforting squeeze.

"There is nothing to be sorry for Daniel, Dr. Gardner." Oma said as she turned to face them once more, her good cheer a little subdued but still intact. "I know full well my role in the creation of _that _monster. That said, I am not here to speak about _him_. So where was I?"

"You mentioned that the Others were swayed by the examples of Nimue and the Chiropterans?"

"They were indeed. Watching their actions, the good they have brought to the galaxy, even the most staunch non-interventionists began to soften their stances. And when they finally proved themselves willing and able to fight, even kill, the Ori, many realized they could no longer stand by while they fought for all our kind."

"And the Others?"

"I was not privy to their thinking Daniel, but I suspect that they were in part afraid of possible civil war or at least mass civil disobedience if they refused us. Our numbers had grown far too much."

"So their hand was forced?"

"Perhaps." Oma conceded. "However, they did willingly give permission in the end and at our first request."

Daniel seemed to be taking a moment to mull this over, reconciling this with what he recalled of the Others from his short time as an Ascended. As such, it was up to Sarah to carry on the conversation.

"So what are your faction of Ascended going to do now?"

"A number of them should be approaching the Coalition leadership to extend a hand of alliance as we speak."

"That's good news isn't it?" Sarah asked, looking between Daniel who still seemed oddly tense and a resigned looking Oma.

"What's the catch?"

"We'll be bound," Oma explained with a sigh. "By much of the same ambiguous rules of non-interference the Others use to rather unsuccessfully keep Nimue in check."

"No, I meant what's the catch for _me_?" Daniel said looking at the Ascended sternly. "You wouldn't have come here looking for me if there wasn't one."

Oma offered Daniel a smile.

"You always were incredibly insightful, Daniel. Always able to make the right inferences from even the scantest of details. Yes, there is a catch for you but it's not an onerous one. At least, not overly so." Oma said as soothingly as possible. "I have it on good authority that you'll be recalled to Earth to serve as a liaison between us and your people."

"Why me?"

"Because, Daniel, multiple individuals have asked for you by name. Skaara, Shifu, and the Abydonians. They have all asked for you personally to serve the role."

Daniel glanced at Sarah and ground his teeth, a stubborn set spreading across his features.

Knowing that he was about to refuse, Sarah grabbed hold of one of his hands and squeezed it lightly.

"Daniel," she told him with a soft smile. "You should do it."

"But Sarah-"

"It's fine, Daniel." She reassured him. "I can take care of myself. You've been asked to do a very important mission back on Earth and you should embrace it."

Daniel still looked torn but Sarah just squeezed his hand again.

"Do it Daniel. Or you'll regret it for the rest of your life."

* * *

The orders for Daniel to return to Earth to take up the role as liaison between the Coalition and Oma's, or was it Ganos Lal's, faction of Ascended arrived hours after Oma herself had disappeared shortly following breakfast. As such, by evening that same day Daniel was standing in front of the Stargate waiting as the Ops Room dialed the Gate for Earth.

"Be careful, Daniel." Sarah told him, visibly holding back tears.

"Shouldn't I be the one saying that?" Daniel asked jokingly, trying to alleviate some of the tensions.

"I'm not the one who's going into a warzone," Sarah told him.

"No but you're the one staying in one."

They both grinned at that, before bursting into a chuckle even as the wormhole flared to life behind him.

"I'll miss you," Sarah told him.

"Me too," Daniel replied, pulling her close. "I'll think about you everyday."

Sarah smiled a watery smile before pulling him the rest of the distance into a passionate kiss.

Daniel felt himself losing himself in his love for this beautiful woman and would have loved nothing more than to stand there kissing her for the rest of eternity. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and as they finally ran out of breath, their lips were reluctantly forced to part. Daniel would have leaned down for another kiss but Sarah gently pushed against his chest.

"Go," she said with slightly trembling lips. "Before neither of us can bring ourselves to do what we must."

Swallowing hard and marveling at Sarah's strength, Daniel turned away.

"See you soon, Daniel." Sarah said, her voice somehow steady despite the hitching in her breath he knew to be barely suppressed sobs.

"I'll be back as soon as I can," Daniel promised without looking back. He knew if he did, he'd never be able to leave. "Stay safe."

"You too."

Standing just before the rippling surface of the wormhole, Daniel took one last fortifying breath. He desperately needed it. Especially since he was about to leave the woman he loved behind.

_It's not forever. I'll be back. _Daniel thought to himself as he took the last few steps towards the event horizon. _And next time, fortune willing, I'll be seeing her with a ring in my pocket._

* * *

Even as Doctors Jackson and Gardner made their tearful goodbye, in _Atlantis_' Technical Sciences Department its various project and lab heads, including Royen, were gushing over all the goodies that they now had access to thanks to the Coalition's alliance with some of the Ascended Ancients. Seated around the Department's main conference table, they were all reviewing the various previously overlooked files in the _Atlantis _database that various tips from their new Ascended friends had directed them to.

"Who'd have thought they would hide their improved keron disruptor designs in a completely different _drive _in the database from the basic ones we've been working with?" Dr. McKay complained as they reviewed the results of the small tip that one of the Ascended had offered in regards to extracting information from the database.

"Stop complaining Rodney," Dr. Zelenka chided almost reflexively. "Not when the results are this amazing. If these numbers they have are correct, these enhanced disruptors are capable of outputting on a wider spectrum than existing Coalition models by at least a factor of ten. Do you know that means?"

"Yes, yes, that the chances of the Asurans developing resistance in any given engagement faster than the disruptors can be recalibrated will be reduced by at least the same margin." Dr. McKay said almost dismissively. "I'm still more annoyed that we couldn't find this _earlier_! If only the damned Lanteans used a data filing system that made sense!"

"He can never be satisfied can he?" Dr. Simpson said from next to Royen.

The child of Nimue just offered the Tau'ri woman an amused grin, before looking back to the file that had caught _his _interest: the schematics and other technical information required to build Ancient Drones.

They would be a massive boost to the firepower of the Expedition and the broader Coalition once the information was fully deciphered and production began, due to the complexity involved this unfortunately did not appear to be any time soon, but that was not what caught Royen's attention most. That honour went to the compact but incredibly energy dense batteries installed in the Drones.

_I can just imagine how installing such batteries into other systems will revolutionize things._

_Indeed, Royce. Just think about the improvements we could make if we can use them in the energy weapons we issue to our infantry._

_Exactly, Enjol, we could drastically improve the 'ammo capacity' and/or firepower of portable energy weapons._

_And that Royce, Enjol, is only the beginning. _Royen thought as he practically salivated at the opportunity to experiment with these batteries.

* * *

A week after a group of Ascended Ancients had chosen to ally with the Coalition and dropped a windfall on the Expedition in the process, the latter's senior staff met for one of their regular meetings

"Sorry everyone," Dr. McKay, the last of the attendees, said apologetically as he finally arrived and sank into his seat. "Zelenka had something he wanted me to look over."

Dr. Weir waved the explanation away and Yuki barely suppressed her snicker. Unlike everyone else, she knew the real reason why Dr. McKay was late was less about a meeting with Dr. Zelenka and more about a rendezvous with his girlfriend Miss Pero.

"Rodney, why don't you start us off." Dr. Weir said once the man was settled. "What's the status of the ZPMs?"

"The _Zed_PMs," McKay said, emphasizing the pronunciation he preferred in his usual demonstration of contrariness. "That the Ascended Ancients gave us the instructions to find are working perfectly, and with them the city is at full power for the first time in what must be ages. Thanks to that we're discovering a whole lot of secrets the Lanteans left behind. There's just one problem."

_Must he exaggerate everything? I know the Albionian Energy Tap and the supplementary Neutrino-ion generators were never able to put the City to 100% of its energy capacity, but an average of 97.2% is as good as full power in my opinion._

_Perhaps, _Marc sent over the Hivemind. _But Dr. McKay is a scientist. He likes to be specific._

_Was I broadcasting? I didn't mean to. _Yuki sent with an edge of amusement.

_As if you didn't know. _Marc sent back with a mental snort.

Whilst Yuki bantered with her brother, Dr. Weir obligingly played Dr. McKay's games even as other Department Heads made various signs of exasperation.

"Which is?"

"That those Ascended should not be such hoarders and just tell us how to build new ZedPMs!"

"Don't be greedy Rodney," Lt. Colonel Sheppard chided his friend. "They already taught us where to find the how-to guide to build drones inside the database. Besides with the hints they gave about what's involved in making new ZPMs, namely creating black holes, I can see why they're cagey about sharing."

"I know," Dr. McKay said with an honest to god pout. "But still!"

_How can such a genius be so childish?_

_Geniuses are known for their eccentricities? _Her Queen, Kurohime, offered as she joined the conversation and her mind settled into the back of Yuki's own so she could see through her eyes.

_Kuro! What are you doing!? That's a private meeting! _Her other Queen, Shirohime, chided her twin immediately.

_Relax, Shiro, it's not like the others don't know that we can do this. Or this is the first time. _

_It's the principle of the matter. _The white Queen said as she too settled into the back of Yuki's mind. _Someone has to make the pro forma complaint._

Both Chevaliers exchanged a quick look of amusement with each other at their Queens' antics that went unseen by the distracted humans. Well, mostly unseen. Ronon Dex noticed but besides a raised eyebrow made no comment. Everyone else was focused on Dr. Weir as she forged ahead with the meeting.

"Sheppard, since you spoke up. How about an update from your end."

As the Head of _Atlantis _Security and the Atlantis Reconnaissance Division spoke, Dr. McKay finally got serious. Partially, Yuki imagined, because he knew it was likely important but also in large part because Sheppard was his friend.

"We won't be getting any reinforcements anytime soon," the American soldier said with a grimace. "Thanks to the Coalition preparing for a major counteroffensive against the Ori, they need every ship they have back in the Milky Way."

"What does this mean for our situation?" Teyla Emmagan, the leader of their native Athosian allies and lead representative of the Pegasus natives, asked while looking worried.

"We'll have to halt our own offensives against the Wraith and the Asurans, we can't risk taking losses without the prospect of reinforcements."

"That's unacceptable." Ronon Dex, their other Pegasus representative and resident Wraith expert, said in a furious growl. "Millions of lives count on us keeping up the pressure on-"

"We understand," Marc said in as soothing a voice as he could. "However, we can't save or protect _anyone_ if our ships get wiped out. Besides, just because our offensives are on hold doesn't mean we will abandon our liberated allies. It just means that we can't go out picking fights with the enemy at the moment."

"Besides, there are other ways to hurt our enemies than through direct military conflict." Yuki offered, her eyes gleaming as she thought of the plans she had afoot. If they all panned out, they'd more than make up for the pause in their offensives.

For the moment though, it seem that the assurances by her and Marc had mollified Teyla and Ronon, though neither looked particularly happy. Yuki didn't expect them to be. Not after what all the peoples of the Pegasus had been forced to endure for so long. To them, the delay must feel at least somewhat like a betrayal.

"Rodney, I have a question," Dr. Gardner chimed in. "The Ancients have been providing us with hints on the nature of the Asurans and the technology they use, correct? Does that mean we've been able to modify our weapons to fight them better?"

_Where is she leading with that? She's read the reports about that. I know she has._

"It hasn't made much of an improvement," McKay scoffed.

"I wouldn't say that," Colonel Sheppard cut in. "They did help us capture two _Aurora_-class battleships completely unharmed thanks to the enhancements they suggested we make to our keron disruptors."

This bit of news seem to appease Ronan and Teyla at last.

_Cleverly done, Dr. Gardner. Very clever. _

"Dr. Weir," The aforementioned Head of the Cultural Studies Department said as she turned to the Expedition Leader. "What are the recent trade numbers with our Pegasus allies?"

Yuki tuned out the talk about trade as she already had the numbers and even conducted her own analysis. However, as that discussion wound down she rather impishly raised her hand to ask for permission to speak.

Stifling amused laughter, Dr. Weir nodded in her direction.

"Thank you Dr. Weir," Yuki said politely, playing up the schoolgirl act. Thankful that her appearance allowed for it. It had been so very useful in so many situations.

_Tell me about it, _Kurohime sent with just a tinge of lustful intent mixed in. _Oh! That gives me an idea! Yuki wear your old school uniform and report to our bedroom tonight!_

_Kuro! Not now! You're distracting Yuki!_

Ignoring her Queens as they descended into squabbling and doing the same albeit with slightly more difficulty to the stirring in her loins at the prospect of what she'd been enjoying that night, Yuki began her briefing for the Expedition's senior leadership.

"I'm happy to inform everyone that despite the destruction of the _Aurora_, the original and namesake of the class, in its last act of defiance against the Wraith by its crew, the loss was not total. The captain's access codes have unlocked some rather interesting data on Lantean weapon systems."

"Really?" Colonel Sheppard asked skeptically.

"Some of it," Yuki said with a sheepish nod. "We're still decrypting much of it but what we've managed to analyze so far seem to have already been acquired either by datamining the Earth's Repository of Knowledge and the gifts from the Ascended who've joined our cause. However, there are some nuggets such as enhanced particle beam weapons. It will take some final decryption but once done it'll take some time-"

"I believe _I _should be the one to brief everyone on this." Dr. McKay cut in and Yuki pouted as befitting the mask she was wearing but nevertheless allowed him to continue. "As Miss Iwasaki was saying, it'll take time for my teams to integrate the Ancients' improvements into their own systems, but once it does they could radically enhance our various particle beam weapons."

"However," Yuki said retaking control of the conversation. "Not everything is going well. My agents have managed to unearth that the number of Wraith worshippers hidden among the civilian populations under our protection is far larger than we feared."

Ronon Dex growled in anger at that, even as Teyla Emmagan frowned. That Wraith worshippers were even a thing had come as a shock to the Expedition and even its local allies. They had known the Asurans had recruited whole races to serve as their collaborators but the Wraith, it seemed, had been more secretive in doing the same. Thankfully, her agents had discovered their existence shortly after she'd taken over as the Head of the Expedition's Intelligence Department and had been rooting them out ever since.

"At present," Yuki continued, ignoring the anger from the Pegasus natives. "We estimate at least three large networks and a dozen independent cells with a total membership in the hundreds. My agents are on high alert for sabotage and such but they cannot be everywhere and these Wraith worshippers continue to remain a threat."

"I'll speak to my people and the leaders of the other peoples under Expedition protection," Teyla Emmagan said. "We'll be on the lookout for these traitors as well."

"Thank you," Yuki said, offering the Athosian a grateful nod before continuing. "On another note, I've finished the sweep of Expedition personnel for Trust infiltrators and am happy to confirm for everyone that outside of the Goa'uld controlling Colonel Caldwell responsible for the bomb scare last week, there are no other agents."

"We are happy to hear that, Miss Iwasaki." Dr. Weir said. "And that Hermiod's extraction of the Goa'uld from Colonel Caldwell was successful and he is slated for a full recovery. Isn't that right, Carson?"

"It is, Dr. Weir." Dr. Beckett affirmed.

"Though to be sure that he's fit for duty, High Command has chosen to have him take a leave of absence to recover from his ordeal before reassigning him to a new posting back in the Milky Way." Yuki informed the others.

"That's news to me," Dr. Weir said, sounding shocked.

"We just heard it over the Swarmmind this morning." Marc explained. "I expect the official orders will arrive by the end of the day."

Dr. Weir frowned but accepted the news with a nod.

"One last thing," Yuki said, raising her hand once more to gain everyone's attention. "Thanks to some of the research we recovered from the world we're now calling Wraith's Cradle I've worked out how to infiltrate the Wraith's telepathic network."

This was met with shock by everyone.

"Are you sure it's safe?" Dr. Gardner asked with a frown. "The Wraith's telepathic abilities are not to be trifled with. If they win out and take control of even one of your Hive- I can't even begin to imagine the harm they could cause."

Teyla Emmagan, who as a Wraithkin had both access to such abilities and experience battling mind to mind with Wraith, nodded in worried agreement with the former Goa'uld host.

"I assure you that it is safe." Marc chimed in. "The Wraith's telepathic network is a pale, watered down shadow of our own Swarmmind. There is little doubt whose skill at telepathy is stronger. Besides, at best the Wraith number in the millions. The Swarm numbers in the many _billions_. If all else fails, the sheer weight of our linked minds will thoroughly overwhelm them."

"John," Dr. Weir said, looking at Colonel Sheppard. "What do you think?"

"I trust them. I think it's worth the risk."

"Rodney?"

"I don't know the first thing about Ascended mumbo jumbo but if they say they can do it then I'd say they should give it a try."

"Ronon?"

"If it works, we'd have a major advantage over the Wraith."

Dr. Weir frowned but nodded. "Very well, you have a go to give this a try Yuki. But be careful."

"I will, Dr. Weir."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done!
> 
> Sorry for the lack of action here. It's a new arc so I needed to do some setup. Hope it's not an issue.
> 
> Besides that I don't think I've anything else to say, so till next time qoştasw!


	20. Troubles at Home - Kolya's Coup

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of the IPs from which any imported elements may originate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Pegasus War**

**Chapter Twenty: Troubles at Home - Kolya's Coup**

**Beta: **

* * *

"Shouldn't you be working on infiltrating the Wraith telepathic network?" Sheppard asked Miss Yuki as they, the rest of AR-1 and Terence's AR-15 stepped out of the Stargate's open wormhole and onto MC4-502.

"I am." Miss Yuki said with a roll of her eyes. "I've tasked a number of Viziers to be in charge of it. Thus giving me the time to pursue other projects."

"Like this foolhardy idea to use that Kolya man to set up a Genii resistance movement against the Asurans?" Sheppard asked they cautiously advanced down the dirt path through the trees to the location where the Genii resistance had set up their base.

"Considering the amount of men he's been able to recruit to his cause, I'd hardly call supporting Koyla foolhardy, Co-"

"Quiet!" Ronon said suddenly, as Wrex and Teyla both began looking around their surroundings nervously.

"Yod?" Terence asked.

"I'm picking up a small group moving up the path to meet us," Yod said, reporting the sensor readings from his Power Armor.

"Relax everyone," Yuki reassured them. "It's probably just Kolya's reception party."

A blue energy bolt blowing apart her shoulder put paid to that assumption.

"Sniper! Take cover!" Sheppard shouted as everyone rushed to obey.

As Terence dove behind a small stand of trees, he watched as in an explosion of ripping fabric Miss Yuki's body transformed into a massive swarm of butterflies that literally blotted out the sun in the immediate area.

_That's one hell of a combat form._ Terence thought idly as a portion of the swarm broke off and flew off like a missile towards what he assumed was the sniper.

He was sadly forced back into cover before he could see much else when a blue bolt barely missed taking his head off and he ducked back into cover to save his life.

"**Kolya! What is the meaning of this!?"** The swarm that Miss Yuki had become roared angrily. Her only response was receiving dozens of energy bolts into her mass.

She wasn't the only one getting shot at however as the Genii resistance fighters they were supposed to be meeting began opening fire on the rest of the Expedition forces as well.

"Yod, how many?"

"_Twelve, excluding the sniper."_ Yod shouted distractedly over the radio as he strode out of cover and opened up on the Genii with his Rotary Staff Canon.

They were prepared for him however and quickly threw down small theatre shields to provide them cover as they returned fire. What they weren't prepared for was large masses of Miss Yuki's swarm to dive bomb them with mutant insects with swollen misshapen abdomens more akin to wasps that butterflies that began firing hypersonic spines and globs of acid at their shields. They tried to fend off the mutants off but their small size and immense numbers made it all but impossible.

"Sheppard! More of them coming!" Ronon shouted off somewhere on the other side of the trail as he shot his particle magnum into the forest off the trail.

"Terence! They're coming from our side too!" Wrex shouted as he too shifted some of his fire to the depths of the forest instead of the cluster of Genii attacking them from the path.

"Yod? How many new bogeys?" Terence asked, as he added his own fire to Wrex's.

"_At least thirty. More keep streaming into range."_

"Shit!" Terence cursed. Those were terrible numbers. There was really no way they could hold out against that many of them.

Thankfully, he wasn't the only one to come to the same conclusion.

"**Retreat to the Gate! Now!"** Miss Yuki ordered, as she detached more portions of her swarm to deal with the attackers trying to hit their flanks.

"You heard the woman! Move it!" Sheppard shouted as he walked out of cover and began walking backwards towards the Gate whilst laying down suppressive fire alternatively into the woods and down the path. "McKay! Dial the Gate. Teyla, Ronon, cover him!"

"Wrex, with me! Yod, cover Larry! Larry, conjure us something to delay pursuit!" Terence ordered in turn as he too began retreating back towards the Gate whilst unleashing what cover fire he could.

Wrex quickly ran over to his right and Terence moved so Sheppard was on his left, forming a makeshift wall as they backed up along the path. Just down the path Yod used his shield to protect Larry as he worked his magic and conjured a fire before they both promptly turned to run back towards them.

"That fire will spread and form a ring around the Gate. It should keep Genii reinforcements out." Larry said as he jogged over. "But I can't do anything about those already inside the ring or if they have shields to help them ignore the flames."

"It's good enough." Sheppard assured him. "McKay? Dail faster!"

"I'm dailing as quickly as I can!" The scientist shouted back. "There! Just let me send the IDC and we're good."

"**Go! Now!"** Miss Yuki shouted as her swarm split off into a host of smaller clusters that presumably moved to further harass the Genii. "**They're brought up shields to get past the fire!"**

"IDC sent!" Dr. McKay said, momentarily before Ronon practically picked him up by the back of his tactical vest and carried to the wormhole, before literally throwing him through. He got hit in the shin by a stray Genii plasma bolt for his troubles but stubbornly refused to go through, gesturing for the others to go first whilst leveling his magnum in the direction of where the shot that wounded him had come from and returned fire.

"Go! All of you!" Sheppard ordered. "I'll give you cover!"

"Yod! You're last man!" Terence added as he pushed Wrex towards the Gate.

Breaking into a sprint and hoping that he'd evade getting hit, Terence dove through the wormhole just behind his two teammates even as he felt something white hot burn across this back.

As he exited the wormhole into the _Atlantis _Stargate deck, he hissed in agony and stumbled forward into his concerned looking teammates.

"Major! You've been shot!" Wrex cried out in alarm.

"It's just a graze," Terence told him through gritted teeth. He knew full well that if he took a direct hit, he'd be feeling a lot worse than he was now.

"Either way, you need help!" Larry said as he began dragging Terence away from the Gate and the stray blue plasma bolts that were still shooting through it.

A medic rushed over to attend him, but Terence ignored her to look back at the Gate where Teyla finally helped a limping Ronon through. They were followed shortly by Yod in his Power Armor and then by the massive swarm of insects that was Miss Yuki.

"**Cut the connection and dial b**ack!" Miss Yuki shouted out at the Ops Room as she changed back to her human shape, forgetting in her haste to put on any clothes and causing many a male to look away. "They've captured Colonel Sheppard!"

* * *

"How did this happen?" Dr. Weir demanded glaring across the conference table at Yuki, who had finally regained enough of her wits to stop giving everyone a free show and morphed some of her butterflies into a black brief stand collar buttoned skater dress.

"They were gunning for Colonel Sheppard and me I think," Yuki admitted. "They knew the sniper shot wouldn't kill me but I'm thinking they thought it would incapacitate me. When it didn't they switched targets."

"What makes you say that?"

"When we retreating towards the Gate, no matter how dangerous the Colonel made himself - And he killed at least five Genii, so he was _very _dangerous. - they never fired on him with anything but Wraith stunners. They weren't so discerning with anyone else."

"Yes, Major Tan and Ronon can both attest to that." Dr. Weir agreed with a frown. "Why didn't you carry Colonel Sheppard over? Surely you could've managed."

"If I had the time, yes. But he was struck after most of my body had already made it through the Gate. The Colonel had stubbornly refused to go until the rest of us had _all _gone through first."

"That sounds like John alright."

Yuki nodded despondently. "Yes, and because of that he ended up _behind _me as we came through the Gate. I still had a handful of my butterflies on the other side when he went down so I know he's still alive. I tried to defend him, but…"

"There were hundreds of them by the end according to Chief Yod's sensors. There was nothing you could've done." Dr. Weir said comfortingly.

An urgent knock on the conference room doors caught them both off guard just as Yuki was about to apologize for her failure, and had them both turning as they opened to allow Dr. Grodin to take a step in.

"Dr. Weir, Miss Yuki, Kolya just hailed us. We have him on in the Ops Room."

"We're on the way, Peter." Dr. Weir told him as she stood. "Thank you."

"Is he hailing us from MC4-502?" Yuki asked doubtfully.

"No, M6R-125."

"He moved? That means he's likely operating from a third world entirely."

"_You presume correctly Miss Iwasaki," _Kolya said with a grin from the Ops Room's main viewscreen. "_It is the prudent thing to do. Just like it was prudent to extract Colonel Sheppard's subdermal subspace beacon as soon as I was able. But you would know that wouldn't you, Miss Head of Intelligence for the Atlantis Expedition?"_

Yuki hissed in annoyance but Dr. Weir shot her a look and she calmed herself.

"What do you want Commander Kolya?" The Expedition leader said in a firm but open voice.

"_Simple, really. I want one of those_ Aurora _warships that you recently acquired form the Asurans." _Kolya said with a serious look.

"Why resort to this?" Yuki asked, her eyes narrowed. "Haven't we supplied you with enough equipment already?"

"_Small arms and tactical shields, are hardly enough. Not if we want to carry out a successful coup back on our homeworld. For that I'd need a ship. A powerful one at that. Something that I've requested of you repeatedly and which you've always refused to give us."_

"We gave you what we could spare," Dr. Weir insisted.

"_Do you take me for a fool?" _Kolya shot back. "_You have _hundreds _of ships. Sparing one is easily within your means."_

"Not after you've done something like this."

"_I think, Dr. Weir, that you will actually." _Kolya said with a sinister smirk before turning aside to address someone offscreen. "_Play the recording."_

Suddenly the image on the screen changed to show Sheppard chained down in a chair while a carefully shackled Wraith Commander was brought towards him. The Genii guards carefully removed the shackles keeping the Wraith bound, before prodding him towards Sheppard. The Wraith hesitated for a moment before a strike from one of the guards shattered his restraint and the lifesucker leaned down over Sheppard and began to feed.

Everyone in the Ops Room winced at the sight of Sheppard's life being drained from him and he physically aged in front of the camera. He seemed almost gone when abruptly the Wraith withdrew.

The screen quickly cut back to Kolya. "_Has that changed your mind, Doctor?"_

"Not at all," Dr. Weir said with grim determination. "We warned you Kolya about what we would do if you betrayed us-"

"_If you mean having Ladon and Dahlia stage a mutiny against me, then you're sorely disappointed." _The rogue Genii said as he lifted the severed heads of both the agents that Yuki had groomed to keep Kolya in check and prevent exactly the current situation from happening.

"_You see I know my men well, Miss Yuki, and I can smell a rat a mile away. Your little pets had no chance."_ The butcher said as he tossed the two heads offscreen.

"You've just signed your death sentence." Dr. Weir told the man. "Release Colonel Sheppard now, Kolya, and we might show you some mercy. If not, then _when _we find you expect the worst."

"_You'll have to find me first. But if you change your mind, contact me here in twenty four hours and let me know. I'll release Sheppard once I get my ship."_

"Never," Dr. Weir insisted.

"_We'll see about that. Kolya out."_

Even as the transmission cut off, Dr. Weir turned to Yuki. "Well?"

"There are only a dozen possible places where Kolya has a facility as comprehensive as the one in that video. Since moving a captured Wraith is unlikely to escape attention, that should help narrow it down as well."

"How long?"

"We'll need to ask Marc for some ships to scout the prospective worlds. Considering the location of the furthest from our space… I'll know where Colonel Sheppard by this afternoon."

"Good." Dr. Weir said with a nod before turning to Dr. Grodin. "Peter, call up Major Tan. He should be healed from his injury already. Have him organize a rescue force the moment Miss Yuki gives us confirmation on Colonel Sheppard's location."

"On it, Elizabeth." Dr. Grodin said with a nod. "And don't worry. We'll get Colonel Sheppard back in no time."

* * *

Later that afternoon, barely an hour after Kolya made his demands, a lone beetle shaped Reetou frigate dropped out of hyperspace over the world classified as M8G-917 and promptly activated its cloak.

"Any sign of recent habitation?" The ship's captain asked his co-pilot, the only other crewman, in the chittering language of their race.

"Give me a moment... I'm detecting a bunker complex of some kind near the Stargate. It matches the one Intel provided us… And, yes, it looks to currently be in use."

"I'm taking us in for a closer look. Keep your eyes peeled for anything." The pilot said as he vectored his ship down into M8G-917's atmosphere and towards the bunker.

"Affirmative."

As they came close the co-pilot suddenly spoke up. "I'm picking up something. Activity on the surface! Looks like two life signs fleeing from a hunting party."

"What kind of life signs?" The pilot asked as he changed course towards the chase in the forest below.

"One is a Wraith and the other is- Confirmation! It's Colonel Sheppard!"

"We're going in! Hail _Atlantis _and let them know we've found the Colonel."

Closing in on the Colonel's position, the small frigate decloaked and raised its shields before opening fire on the Genii pursuers, killing at least a half dozen of them. Unfortunately, this caught their attention.

"Incoming missiles!" The co-pilot cried. "At least eight of them."

"Conducting evasive maneuvers. Deploy countermeasures."

The Reetou frigate nimbly jinked and swerved through the air desperately trying to shake off the missiles on its tail, even as it launched a cloud of countermeasures. Four of the Expedition provided "Fly Swatter" missiles fell for the latter and detonated prematurely into clouds of explosions but this only served to destroy or scatter the countermeasures giving the remaining missiles a clear target lock.

"We're out of countermeasures," the Reetou pilot declared grimly. "Did you get the message to _Atlantis_?"

"I did."

"Then we die fulfilling our mission." The pilot declared grimly as the first two of the remaining missiles slammed into his ship, shattering its shields.

"For the Atlantis Expedition!" The co-pilot shouted as the third missile hit their ship and they were sent spiraling towards the ground.

"For Pegasus!" The pilot cried out as well just as the last missile found the stricken craft and caught it in a series of explosions that utterly consumed it.

* * *

Unbeknownst to the two Reetou pilots, their last moments had no gone unseen by their fellow Expedition members. Even as they tried to shake off the missiles that eventually killed them, the Stargate on M8G-917 sprung to life and from it streamed a small army of Expedition soldiers. Many of which saw the brave Reetou ship get shot out of the sky and were filled with a burning need for revenge.

"Fan out!" Terence ordered. "Find Colonel Sheppard and whoever shot those missiles. But keep alert. This place is crawling with Genii. AR-15 you're with me. Major Lorne, your teams will secure the Gate. Hold it at all costs."

"Yes, sir." The American nodded, as he turned to deploying the two AR teams under his command in defensive positions around the Gate.

"Wrex, you think you can lead us to the bunker Kolya's using?" Terence asked as they began moving out.

"Shouldn't be too difficult, they must have a well travelled path between there and the Gate. But shouldn't we go help look for Colonel Sheppard?"

"I think Ronon and the rest of the Colonel's team has that covered." Terence said gesturing to AR-1 as they set off at a run in another direction. "I'm thinking we can go deal with Kolya personally and give the Colonel a little present when he gets back to _Atlantis_."

"Sounds good to me," Yod agreed.

"Same," Larry concurred.

"Right, then follow me. It's this way." Wrex said as he pointed out a relatively well hidden but still visible trail through the woods. It seemed that the Genii had put some effort into hiding their tracks, but there was no way they could hide such a well used route as the one between the Gate and their complex completely.

They were walking cautiously down the path for about ten minutes when Wrex and Yod both signaled a stop. "Incoming?"

Both nodded and Terence turned to Larry.

Said wizard had already whipped out his wand and was incanting an unfamiliar new spell which when finished caused the very ground around them to shift and reshape itself into a solid concrete pillbox straight out of World War Two.

"New trick?" Terence asked, as he and the rest of the time filed into the freshly created fortification and took positions at the various loopholes on all sides that allowed them to fire out.

"Yes, I had the inspiration for it the other day during my daily prayers." Larry said with a grin. "It was divine inspiration I think. Better this anyway than the makeshift stone walls I usually conjure for us. Many times thicker too."

"Good job and all Larry, but enough talking. They're almost here!"

"Too late! Contact!" Wrex shouted as he began opening fire, soon followed by everyone else as a unit of Genii came running up the path towards the Gate.

"Yod, how many?"

"The computer counts at least a hundred and there's more that keep coming into range."

"That's a lot." Terence hissed under his breath as he fired his SPAR 21 at full auto and killed at least four Genii. "Radio in that we've found what appears to be the Genii's main force and request assistance."

"Roger that, boss."

The shocked Genii had not been expecting a blockhouse right in the middle of their path and thus barely put up any resistance as they were mowed down by AR-15's unrelenting fire. That quickly changed though as the surprise wore off and the enemy fire became more organised.

"Sir!" Yod shouted urgently. "They're almost surrroun- Wait! Nevermind!"

"What? Why nevermind?" Terence shouted over the sound of the frantic firefight to ask.

"The cavalry's arrived, Terence, that's why." Wrex said gesturing slightly with his gun as a group of Genii on his side of their little pillbox collapsed from fire from behind them.

"_Major Tan, is that you guys in there?" _Lt. Edison of AR-7's voice crackled over the radio.

"It's us. Thanks for covering our flanks."

"_I'll be damned. Is that the benefits of having a wizard on your team? Fortifications on demand? That's bullshit convenient. I am so requesting one be transferred into my team ASAP."_

"Good luck with that," Larry snorted as he used his wand to fix up some damage their pillbox had sustained. "There aren't many military trained wizards running around.

"Focus on that transfer later, Lieutenant. We've gotta fight off some Genii first."

"_Right sir. Oh shit- Um, sir? I think you better get out here?"_

"Why?"

"Boss, look." Yod said nodding out his lookout.

Hurrying over, Terence saw Kolya and a group of his men cautiously walk around a bend in the path with the rogue Genii commander holding a gun to Major Rutherford of AR-12's head.

"I see them, Lieutenant. Hold fire. I've got this."

"Ah, good. You've stopped shooting." Kolya said with a malicious grin. "Smart of you. You wouldn't want to shoot your friend Major Rutherford, do you? Now, if you would be so kind as to keep that up until me and my men have made our escape, then I'll happily release the good Major."

"Don't listen to him! Shoot the bas-"

Whatever else Rutherford was about to be said was silenced by being hit with a stunner by one of Kolya's men.

_Good. It makes things easier if he's limp. _Terence thought as he readied his weapons.

"We don't negotiate with kidnappers." Terence told Kolya, buying time to line up his shot.

"Your Head of Intelligence does," Kolya taunted.

"Well, I'm not Miss Iwasaki" Terence said before taking the shot and putting a hole neatly through the Genii's head.

The remaining Genii troops were shocked by their commander's sudden death and were easy pickings as the Expedition personnel opened up on them. Within minutes, the fighting was over leaving the Genii either dead or taken prisoner. Rutherford had taken a hit or two in the crossfire which was unfortunate, but nothing a session with a Healing Device couldn't fix.

All in all, Terence was pretty pleased with the way things had turned out.

* * *

"So Major, what do you think about Colonel Sheppard letting that Wraith, that Todd, go?" Larry asked as the team had dinner later that day in the _Alantis _mess. "It was the honorable thing, yes, but was it the smart move?"

"I think it's stupid."

"I agree with Yod, we should've just killed the monster."

"He did save Colonel Sheppard," Terence reminded them. "By giving that 'Gift of Life' thing and reversing all the effects of all the feeding it was forced to do on him."

"And what's not to say it didn't do that just to win sympathy from the Colonel so we'd let it go?" Wrex countered. "The Wraith are notoriously tricky. Surely, this is just another of their tricks."

"Maybe," Terence allowed. "But whatever we think about it, the decision has been made and it's now out of our can only hope that what we did won't bite us in the ass later."

"Amen to that," Larry said with fervor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done!
> 
> Hope you liked this exploration of what can happen when your oh so smart scheme backfires. Not to bash Yuki, but she was really trying too hard with this whole plan of using Kolya as a fifth column inside Genii society. Then again, nothing ventured nothing gained. Too bad she didn't prepare a proper failsafe against Kolya betraying the Expedition.
> 
> That's all from me this chapter I think, so till next time slán!


	21. Troubles at Home - Ascension of the Wraith

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of the IPs from which any imported elements may originate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Pegasus War**

**Chapter Twenty One: Troubles at Home - Ascension of the Wraith**

**Beta: **

* * *

Captain Tommen of the _Star Explorer _had been skeptical of the Chiropterans' claims of their ability to hack into the Wraith's telepathic network at first. Especially after the bats' own initial reports that the Wraith had detected the intrusion quickly enough and responded by segregating their communication network to prevent sensitive information from being received by their enemies. He hadn't bought into their claims that their superior psychic ability allowed them to freely pierce into the Wraith network despite their countermeasures, even as evidence mounted in the form of the lifesuckers switching over to more conventional and more easily secured subspace channels for their communications. He'd seen it just as another sign the Wraith were staying one step ahead of the Chiropterans' clumsy scheme despite the bats' assurances that the Wraith couldn't cut themselves fully off from their telepathic network and that plenty of intel had still fallen into their hands.

No, he'd only been convinced when the first operation based on intel acquired from the infiltration of the Wraith network bore fruit in the form of a successful raid on a Wraith cloning facility whose garrison had been left undermanned due to a recent Asuran attack and had yet to be reinforced. That and the string of similarly successful operations - part of the limited offensive Dr. Weir had allowed in response to the intelligence windfall the infiltration had provided them - based on the intel acquired by the Chiropterans had thoroughly convinced him.

Not that all their attacks had been successful. The Wraith weren't stupid after all. They knew they were being hacked and thus were a lot more cautious now. But the intel ripped from their telepathic network had nevertheless helped more often than not.

In spite of this as the _Explorer_ and the task force it commanded exited hyperspace to carry out an operation based on such intel, Tommen remained cautious.

"The Wraith fleet is exactly where intel said it is, sir." The _Explorer_'s sensor officier reported dutifully. "And as suggested they are in the middle of exchanging material consistent with a resupply. I'm reading three Hive ships and nine cruisers alongside five cruiserweight supply ships. We have a two to one advantage."

Studying the tactical display carefully, Tommen noted the small Wraith fleet that was his target but quickly turned away to scan their surroundings instead.

"Any sign of a trap?"

"Negative, sir."

Tommen nodded in satisfaction at the good news. It seemed whoever commanded this Wraith fleet hadn't been taken the lessons his counterparts had learned recently to heart.

"Prepare a spread of photon torpedoes. We'll fire them the moment we're in range."

"Yes, sir." The tactical officer replied eagerly.

"Order all ships to start up their flak batteries and to begin closing with the targets. Deploy all strike craft as well."

"Affirmative," Tommen's XO replied as he got onto the comms.

"In torpedo range," the tactical officer reported a moment later. "Torpedoes primed and ready."

Tommen noted with satisfaction that the clearly surprised Wraith fleet had barely begun to launch its strike craft that served as its only real protection against his torpedoes.

"Launch torpedoes!"

The Ohne commander, and he imagined most of the void sailors under his command, watched in satisfaction as his torpedoes slipped through the thin Wraith fighter screen with minimal losses and struck their targets. In what he pictured as suitably impressive explosions, a Hive ship and a trio of cruisers died.

"Sir! Wraith strike craft are inbound."

"They're abandoning their fighter screen?" Tommen asked with surprise at this announcement from his sensors officer.

"Looks like," his XO said with a thoughtful growl. "Most likely they want to pressure us up close to prevent another torpedo spread. They'll probably use their reserves to form up a new fighter screen."

That did sound like viable tactics, especially for a Wraith.

_If they want to use somewhat unconventional tactics, then we can do the same._

"Order our strike craft to remain close! And signal the fleet to continue to advance. We'll punch right through their fighters and bring this fight to extreme close quarters! Let's not give them a chance to put their birds into the void without running through our flak." Tommen said with a predatory smirk. "Our ships are better at close range combat anyway."

"Bold," his XO commented, even as the comms officer began relaying Tommen's orders to the rest of the task force.

On his order, the wedge shaped formation of Expedition ships rammed its way through the confused swarm of incoming Wraith strike craft. Those that weren't outright destroyed by the thick flak cloud surrounding the Expedition ships were scattered and became easy pickings for their Expedition counterparts.

The Wraith capital ships had more time to prepare for this unexpected charge and tried to form up into a defensive formation, but they were still badly out of position when the Expedition task force slammed into their position. Almost immediately any cohesion the Wraith had collapsed and each ship found itself fighting for its own life. In contrast, the Expedition ships broke up into small groups and engaged their predesignated targets.

The first of the Wraith ships to die were perhaps unsurprisingly the supply ships. Although based on a cruiser hull, a significant portion of the vessel's armaments had been stripped out and replaced by storage bays. It was thus the most lightly armed of the Wraith capital ships. Less than three minutes into the opening of the engagement, all the supply ships were sunk. Followed not long after by the cruisers. The Hive ships held out the longest but even they could not hold out against the fury unleashed by the Expedition forces and eventually succumbed.

And with their destruction, the Expedition won yet another decisive victory against the Wraith.

* * *

These victories should have been a cause for cheer among the Expedition and they were. However, not everyone was buoyed by their success. At least not enough to pull them out of their bad moods.

One such vexed individual was Royen. The source of his anger? The fact that he was being forced to repair _Atlantis_' Hyperspace Tap Energy Collection Array.

Now he'd have been more than happy to do so if the damage had been caused by battle, wear and tear or even an accident. But no! The rather extensive damage to the sensitive power generator had been caused by _McKay and his sister_! More specifically, it had been caused by their damnable experiment to make the Arcturus Device more viable that had also almost destroyed the universe!

It was thus perhaps no surprise that he was complaining veritably non-stop about the two.

"Those infernal McKays," the child of Nimue muttered angrily under his breath as he worked. "All of them are a bunch of arrogant fools! It's almost as if they think they can make the impossible possible through their sheer brilliance!"

"I wouldn't go that far." Dr. Radek Zelenka who was helping him with the repairs chimed in. "I mean we all agreed to give the experiment a try."

"I didn't." Royen reminded him. "Or did you forget my objection. One that McKay himself overruled."

Dr. Zelenka winced.

"You did? I, uh, forgot. But, um, if it _had _worked the potential benefit would have been immense. On that basis alone surely attempting the experiment was worthwhile."

"At the risk of destroying the universe?"

Dr. Zelenka scratched his chin uneasily, unable to come up with a retort.

"I thought not."

"At least, with the ZPMs at our disposal it means that the damage won't lead to us being short on power." Dr. Zelenka offered.

"Small favours."

Dr. Zelenka opened his mouth to attempt to continue defending McKay but was interrupted by the sound of an alarm going off over the city's intercom.

"_Yellow Alert! I repeat, Yellow Alert! All duty personnel are to report to ready positions!" _The prerecorded voice of Dr. Weir sounded out of hidden speakers throughout the city.

"I wonder what this is about?"

Royen shrugged. "Who knows? All I know is that we need to hurry with these repairs. If it's an attack, it would be best that the city has every one of its options available to it."

"Right." Dr. Zelenka agreed.

* * *

At the edge of the Lantean system was the cause of the alert on _Atlantis_: a fleet of three Wraith Hive ships and a dozen cruisers. And on the bridge of the lead Hive ship was the architect of their arrival, the Wraith Commander who had chosen to call himself Prophet.

"Have they spotted us?" Prophet asked one of his subordinates.

"Affirmative," the younger Commander said as he consulted his console. "A large fleet has just jumped in and is vectoring towards us."

Nodding, Prophet turned to his Queen, the long limbed, voluptuous Silent Storm with her striking neon green hair. As always, she sat calmly on a throne set up so she could survey the entire bridge.

"My Queen, with your permission."

The female gave a regal nod. Something that she'd spent hours practising under his tutelage when they'd first seized control of their Hive months ago.

"Thank you, my Queen." Prophet said with a bow before turning to the junior Commander manning the ship's comms. "Hail the approaching Expedition ships. Include a message that we come to parlay."

"At once," the younger Wraith said.

For a few tense moments there was no response from the Expedition and Prophet worried that they were unwilling to hear him out. All the while, their ships moved into an englobement formation around his small fleet. Fortunately, just when it seemed his plan to come here was folly, the Commander manning the comms cried out in relief.

"They've established a connection with _Atlantis_."

"On screen!"

"Greetings," the infamous Dr. Elizabeth Weir, leader of the Atlanteans, said as her image appeared on the bridge's central viewscreen. "I am made to understand that you're here to parlay?"

"Indeed, Dr. Weir." Prophet said. "But let me introduce myself first."

* * *

Elizabeth frowned at the oddly cordial Wraith. From almost all previous interactions the Expedition had with the Wraith, they seemed to be universally haughty creatures. She knew from reports of interactions with Wraith such as Ellia and Todd that they could be civil, but it was nevertheless a surprise to encounter such seemingly uncharacteristic behavior for herself.

That, however, was not her only oddity with this so-called parlay.

The moment that the Wraith in charge offered to introduce himself, Elizabeth had glanced to Peter. Her friend just shook his head in reply indicating that he'd detected no virus or other malware coming from the Wraith.

_Are they really here in good faith then?_

"Is something the matter?" The Wraith asked, genuinely sounding concerned.

"Nothing," Elizabeth said, quickly turning back to face the viewscreen. "Just my aid informing me about something."

"I see. Well, where was I? Ah! Introductions. I am Prophet-"

_Odd name. _

"And this," the Wraith said with a formal bow towards a female seated on a throne behind him. "Is my Queen, Silent Storm. It is upon her behalf that I speak."

Said Wraith Queen nodded in agreement. Though there seemed to be a hesitance in her movements that to Elizabeth's experience as a diplomat hinted that she was putting up a front of some kind.

_I wonder what she's hiding. Maybe I can make use of whatever it is._

"It is a pleasure to meet you. You already know who I am, so I won't bother introducing myself." Elizabeth said, using a hint of hostility to hide her observations and its conclusion. "Now perhaps you can tell me why you have snuck into a system you know full well is under our protection?"

"We come, Dr. Weir, to defect."

"What!?" Elizabeth couldn't help herself from blurting out in shock.

A Wraith defecting? Impossible! Much less a whole fleet of them.

"I can understand that it might seem inconceivable to you but I assure you that we are genuine." Prophet said. "For we seek Ascension, much like the Lanteans whose city you have claimed for your own did. And we have concluded that to achieve this we must become Chiropteran. We must become part of the Lantean Hive."

Elizabeth's mind was still scrambling to make sense of that statement but she knew better than to remain silent, so she used the tried and tested tactic for buying time when thrown for a loop: ask for clarification.

"What makes you think that becoming Chiropterans will allow you to Ascend?"

"As you know we are aware of the Chiropterans' intrusion into our telepathic network. What you might not have been aware is that this has not all been one way. While the Chiropterans have not allowed any information about the Expedition to leak to us, they did leave telepathic impressions. Impressions that on examination have revealed that they are both our ancestors and Ascended Beings. This is in addition to their ability to assimilate other lifeforms into their Hives. Taking all this into account, it is only logical that if we wish to Ascend then the easiest option is to become part of their race."

The Wraith seemed to have a few things wrong, like the fact that strictly speaking only Chiropteran Queens were Ascended Beings, but his logic was sound at least based on what he knew.

"I see you are still hesitant," Prophet acknowledged. "Thus let me sweeten the deal. I believe you did not detect us until we were forced out of hyperspace at the edge of the system, correct?"

Elizabeth gave no response to that. The Wraith jolly well already knew that to be true, but she was not about to confirm it for him.

"In exchange for considering our request, I'm willing to send you all the data on our latest stealth armor. With that I'm sure your scientists will be able to overcome its effects."

That was a remarkably generous offer. Especially since he was only offering it so they would _consider _their request, not in exchange for them accepting it. It might have been a mistake on the Wraith's part, but she doubted it.

"Very well." Elizabeth said with a frown. "Send over that data and we'll _consider _your request."

"Splendid. I'll send over the data at once." Prophet said gesturing to one of his subordinates. "And I hope to hear good news from you soon."

Elizabeth didn't reply, just signalled to Peter to cut the connection.

"Summon the senior staff." Elizabeth ordered. "We need to discuss this situation _now_."

* * *

It took less than ten minutes for the senior staff to gather in the conference room off the Ops Room.

"Okay, I take it everyone has been briefed on recent events?" Elizabeth asked, as everyone took their seats and she received a round of affirmatives to her question. "Good. Well, as unbelievable as this may seem the Wraith have kept their word so far. As ordered by the responding fleet commander, they have held their position at the edge of the system. In addition, as far as initial analysis of the data they sent over can tell, it's what they say it is."

"You can't seriously think that means they can be trusted?" Ronon hissed. "They are Wraith! This must be part of some kind of long con on their part."

"While I share Ronon's distrust of the Wraith, I sense that the Wraith's intentions in this instance are genuine."

"If they _are _genuine, and that's a big if, the addition of the forces they brought with them would be a not insignificant boost to our resources." John pointed out. "They have enough ships to make up an entire garrison fleet all on its own. And with our access to reinforcements from the Milky Way on hold thanks to the war back home, any additional firepower is welcome."

"Marc? What's your opinion."

"To be honest, the personal opinions of me and his sister do not matter. We will abide by whatever you and our Queens decide. However, if you're looking for a military opinion than Colonel Sheppard's summation of things is accurate. Though I will add that my Hive's shipyards are still too busy repairing and refitting existing ships to even think of building new ones. At least not until the new expansion is complete and that won't be at least for a few months. As such I must emphasize the value of incorporating this Prophet's forces into our own."

Frowning, Elizabeth turned to his sister.

"I must reiterate what Marc said earlier." The teenaged looking Chiropteran said. "But as Intelligence Head I'll add that our telepathic probes indicates that they do appear to be genuine in their intent."

"Rodney?"

"I wouldn't pass up a chance to examine some Wraith technology."

"I'll take that as a vote in favour?."

"Only if we're ready to wipe the lot of them out if they take even a step out of line," Rodney said with an uncharacteristically firm look. "Because Ronon is right. These are Wraith we're talking about here."

"Sarah, anything to add?"

"Only that if we let them join we'll need to be very careful about their interactions with our liberated friends." The Head of Cultural Studies told her with a worried frown. "The people of the Pegasus will not easily forget they were once Wraith and what that means, whatever they become."

Elizabeth nodded. She could see the potential powder keg that Sarah was alluding to. That said… The military boon of accepting the Wraith into their ranks also could not be overlooked, especially in their current situation. But on the other hand, they _were _dealing with the Wraith. A race that was well known for their duplicity.

"Alright. I've made my decision." Elizabeth said after a long moment of deliberation. "I'll accept Prophet's request. But ultimately this decision isn't mine to make."

Looking at the two Chevaliers in the room, Elizabeth addressed their Queens who were undoubtedly watching everything through their servants' eyes.

"Your Majesties, the final decision is up to you."

* * *

Just hours after they'd arrived in the Lantean system, Silent Storm found herself kneeling alongside Prophet and the two other Queens they'd convinced to join them before the Chiropteran Hive Queens of the Lantean Hive.

She did not show it but she was incredibly pleased with this outcome that Prophet had engineered. _Finally_, she would have the opportunity to safely be relieved of all her responsibilities. A Wraith female had only two fates in life: become a Queen or die trying. Thus, despite her own lack of desire to do so, upon her maturity she'd worked with Prophet to seize control of their Hive ship from her mother. All just so she could survive. She'd left most of the ruling to Prophet, but even then the burden of being Queen had weighed on her. Soon though, they would be lifted at last.

She set these happy thoughts aside however as the ceremony finally began. The two Chiropteran Queens stepping forward, the Black Queen headed towards Prophet while the White Queen moved towards herself.

As previously agreed, Prophet would be changed first. Ostensibly as a precaution against deception, but really it was to honour him for being the one who led them to this moment. Thus only the Black Queen extended her wrist to Prophet, a small cut already letting a small trickle of her mutagenic blood flow down her perfect digits.

Silent Storm watched as her former Consort kissed the Black Chiropteran Queen's hand and in the process swallow some of her precious blood. The transformation began as soon as the Chiropteran Queen withdrew her hand. And the young Wraith Queen looked on in fascination as four additional insectoid arms burst from Prophet's back and a pair of truly massive wings extended from his shoulders. Even in the midst of these dramatic changes however, Silent Storm did not miss how Prophet's feeding slit had fused shut and his place in the telepathic net of her Hive vanished. As all these changes, big and small, completed, he stood and proudly moved to stand at the side of his new Queen alongside his new brother.

She had to cut her observation short there as it was finally her turn. She watched with bated breath as the White Chiropteran Queen offered her hand who like her twin's earlier was already also dripping her precious blood. With barely controlled eagerness, Silent Storm leaned down and partook of the life changing liquid.

The moment the elixir touched her lips, Silent Storm lost control and she arched her back as she screamed in pained ecstasy. Her mind was forcibly extended to proportions she never thought possible as she was brought into the Swarmmind. She'd lived with the Wraith telepathic network all her life and she'd felt it vast, but that paled in comparison to that of the Swarm. Except for the Drones, individual Wraith were only tentatively linked to each other. Able to share thoughts and even emotions at times, but each still a distinct individual. The Swarm however shared _everything_. Somehow whilst maintaining their individuality they nevertheless shared all thought, all emotions with each other. Prophet had been right. It wasn't just their Queens who were Ascended Beings. The whole Swarm, from the lowest Worker to the Swarm Queens themselves, were bound in such a way that they were all one massive Ascended Being! A Being that Silent Storm was now a part of! How joyous!

Even as her mind was blown away by the power of her Queen's mutagenic blood, she also felt her body shift. Like Prophet, her feeding slit sealed shut and a pair of massive wings burst forth from her shoulder blades. However, this change was only the beginning as her legs fused together before they elongated and grew into a long sinuous tail. One that had dozens upon dozens of slits, each one a womb, on its sides that were hidden by the scales that emerged over her skin.

_Raise my new Chevalier, Sile- _The enchanting voice of her Queen whispered into her mind.

_Thousand pardons my Queen, but please let me choose a new name._

_Of course. _Her new mother said without a hint of a reprimand that such an interruption would have earned her from a superior had she still be a Wraith. _What would it be?_

_Rebirth. _The former Wraith Queen said after only a moment's thought. _I would like to be called Rebirth._

_Very well. Then let that be your name henceforth._

The entire conversation had happened in the short time since Rebirth's transformation had concluded and she followed Prophet's example to move - or was it slither in her case? - to flank her new Queen with her new sister Chevalier.

As she did, she noted that the two remaining Wraith Queens were looking on apprehensively as their Hive Queens walked towards them to offer them their blood. Clearly they were having second thoughts about accepting conversion, but under both her and Prophet's menacing glares they had no choice but to accept their Queens' sacred blood.

Instead of becoming Chevaliers like them however, much to Rebirth's surprise both seemed at first to be changing into forms like hers but this abruptly changed and in a rather grotesque shifting of flesh, bone and other biological matter they instead became what the library of knowledge she'd gained from her transformation told her were Broodmothers.

"I knew this was a possibility." The Black Queen said with a sigh. "And Rebirth there's no need to think of me in such a grandiose way. Just call me Kuro."

"I wouldn't dare, my Queen."

"We insist." Her Queen said with a kind look. "You will address us by name. I'm Shiro and my twin is Kuro. Shirohime and Kurohime if you must be formal."

Rebirth shifted uneasily but nodded. She would obey.

"My Queens, what happened to them?" Prophet asked, gesturing to the two new Broodmothers. "Why did they not become Chevaliers like we did?"

_That was because neither were willing to truly submit themselves to the Swarm._ Kuro explained. _As such when the Swarmmind linked itself to them, they tried to resist and it overpowered them, crushing their egos effectively destroying their existing personalities. Since this makes them useless as Chevaliers whose whole purpose is to serve as autonomous commanders and be able to think for themselves, the mutagen reacted by changing them not into Chevaliers as was intended but instead a caste most fitting to them based on their genetic code._

_Fret not, our Chevaliers. _Shiro added. _This is a natural occurrence. It happens sometimes when the prospective Chevalier cannot handle the transformation for whatever reason._

_A fitting fate considering their duplicity. _Prophet sent while sporting a vicious grin.

Rebirth couldn't disagree. How anyone who chose to partake of the Queens' blood and then refuse to fully embrace the changes they brought was something she could not understand. Anyone who was that foolish fully deserved this fate indeed.

* * *

Not even an hour after his own Ascension into a Chevalier, Prophet, still in his true form, stood on a catwalk overlooking a partially complete drydock in the equally incomplete expansion to his Hive Complex's shipyards. The place was only just sealed against the water outside the undersea complex and there were a whole host of equipment to install to bring the dock online, however that could wait. For now, the large empty space was the perfect place to carry out the conversion of the rest of the Wraith that he'd brought to the Hive.

As ordered, they were lined up in long queues so they could take turns to be administered with a small injection of their Hive Queens' blood. There was barely a fraction of a millimeter in each injection but with so many Wraith to be converted, that quickly stacked up. And Prophet knew that producing so much blood had taxed the Queens a great deal. Even now they were hooked up to extraction machines to drain them of their precious blood to produce enough to meet their needs.

Considering the discomfort this put them through, Prophet was determined that the mass conversion went off without a hitch. So far everything was going smoothly with each Wraith injected with the Queens' sacred blood undergoing a transformation that closed the feeding slits on the palm of their right hands and gave them a pair of membranous wings from their shoulder blades.

Wings that Prophet knew via experimentation granted them flight. This flight, like that of other Chiropterans, was more a form of limited telekinesis linked to the use of the wings than conventional flight as the wings were too small to create sufficient lift. However, it came about it was clear that his fellow former Wraith enjoyed it as they were using it to either flutter about in the air of the dock or to get them to the roof from which hundreds of them now hung like gargoyles as they looked down on their former peers still waiting to undergo the transformation.

If Prophet didn't know better he would have chalked such behavior entirely down to them acting on the joy of gaining the ability to fly, and that was a factor no doubt, but he knew there was more to it. Like all converted Chiropteran these former Wraith retained all their previous intellect, though for most individuals it was muted as their consciousness was lost in the depths of the Chiropterans' vast Swarmmind and its will. It was this will that kept them in the dock, to keep a watchful eye on those yet to be converted.

He should know, he'd been the one who suggested they do so to the Hivemind.

Their vigilance was probably unnecessary but why take the risk? Besides, with so many eyes watching out for trouble it allowed him to spare a fraction of his concentration on other matters.

_What should we call this new caste, I wonder? _

It wasn't an idle question either. What they chose to call them would be etched into the memory of the Swarm forever more. A bad choice of name would bring ridicule and shame upon their Hive!

_My Queens, Brother, Sisters, any suggestions?_ The new Chevalier asked across the Hivemind.

* * *

While Prophet oversaw the mass conversion of the remaining Wraith from the fleet he'd brought to the system, Yuki was down in the bowels of their Hive Complex accompanying Rebirth as her new sister settled into the Birthing Chambers.

_Rebirth, you do know that you don't _need _to live here correct? _Yuki told her sister not for the first time. _You may be able to birth younglings like a Broodmother but you're a Chevalier. There's no need to live with the Broodmothers down in the Birthing Chambers. _

_Perhaps not. But I want to. _Rebirth countered as she stretched herself out on the large bed that had been set up for her in an empty Birthing Stall by the Chambers' Workers. _I like the idea of staying down here and doing what I'm good at: giving birth._

_You're good at more than that. _Yuki insisted.

_But this is what I want to do. _Rebirth told her with a shrug.

Yuki looked at her disbelievingly

_Sister, I spent almost all my life worrying about trying to live up to being a leader because that's what being a female Wraith meant. One was born to become a leader of a Hive ship or die trying. I hated it however and now that I've gotten the chance to leave that life behind, I'm going to embrace it._

_But how can a life as a mere Broodmother be satisfying for a Chevalier. Our minds are so different._

_They are,_ Rebirth allows. _They are so much simpler. But that's why I want to take some time emulating them. Doing something as simple as just giving birth, I think I'll have all the free time in the world to figure out what else I want to do with my life._

Yuki reluctantly saw her sister's point, but she didn't have to like it.

_You don't like it, sister, because it reminds you of what you'd have become if your human father's attempt to marry you off succeeded. A broodmare for an older man you didn't even know, all so he could secure an alliance._

Yuki recoiled at the accusation but couldn't deny the truth in her new sister's words. She hadn't even been conscious of it till now but the parallels in Rebirth's situation and what Yuki might have had to endure if she hadn't been saved by their Queens was striking.

_The difference however, sister, is that I _choose _to take on this role. Whereas you would have been forced, quite unwillingly, into it. Choice matters, sister._

_I understand. _Yuki said grudgingly. _And I accept your choice. But try as I may, I don't think I can agree with it._

_You are free to disagree. _Rebirth told her with a grin. _It's a free world after all._

Yuki chuckled at her sister's joke.

_What should we call this new caste, I wonder? _Prophet sent, cutting into the sisterly moment. _My Queens, Brother, Sisters, any suggestions?_

_Suggestions? Hmm… _Rebirth asked, rubbing her chin thoughtfully as they both reviewed everything they knew about the new caste.

"The way they hang from the ceiling like that, maybe gargoyles? Even Prophet compared them to such." Yuki said out loud for a modicum of increased privacy. While all telepathy echoed to one extent or the other through the Swarmmind making absolute privacy impossible, verbal speech still allowed for such at least until someone not present reviewed the memory of the conversation.

"I can't think of anything better. So let's go with that."

_Rebirth and I suggest Gargoyles. _Yuki sent in reply for both of them.

* * *

Like his sibling Chevaliers, Marc was likewise busy at work. Unlike them however, he was not on Lantea itself but in its orbit where he observed as Expedition engineers, Workers from their Hive, and a number of the already converted Wraith commanders worked to incorporate Prophet's ships into the Expedition Fleet.

This was a more involved process than might first be evident as it involved the installation of shields onto the vessels, upgrading its various systems to Chiropteran standards and perhaps most importantly to prevent friendly fire take steps to visually differentiate them from standard Wraith ships. The last issue was proving most problematic as it involved altering the ships' bioarmor so that it was red instead of their original purplish blue.

Upgrading the strike craft was even more troublesome. Installing shields on the tiny Darts were easy enough even if they would be quite weak, the problem lay in its weapons which despite their best efforts could not be tuned up by any significant margin leaving them still rather anemic. The Hunters had similar issues, though they were largely resolved by the installation of external hard points onto which additional weapons could be mounted. Only the Enforcers were straightforward. Already a formidable machine, all it needed was a shield and it was ready to go.

Thankfully, despite all these difficulties, things were progressing according to schedule and if that continued, the Expedition would have fifteen new capital ships at its disposal by the end of the week.

He was just contemplating where to deploy them when Prophet's question reached him across the Hivemind.

_What should we call this new caste, I wonder? My Queens, Brother, Sisters, any suggestions?_

Marc was still thinking of a suggestion when his sisters replied.

_Rebirth and I suggest Gargoyles. _

_Drat. I was about to suggest that too. Guess I'll have to think of something else. The more options our Queens have, the better. _There was general agreement to this among his siblings. _Hmm… How about Ujit? It's the name of the Vietnamese Bigfoot I heard about when I was serving in Indochina._

* * *

Seated side by side in recliners and hooked up to machines extracting the blood needed for the mass conversion, Shirohime and Kurohime had practically dozed off as they left the running of their Hive over to their Chevaliers and the Hivemind itself. The amount of blood that was being drained for them was not insignificant and even for their inhuman physiology losing so much blood had an exhausting effect on their bodies.

Though just because their bodies were dozing didn't need their minds needed to be. In point of fact, even as their bodies suffered the discomfort of having their blood extracted, Shirohime and Kurohime had let their minds wander up to the Ascended Plane and were happily enjoying a round of Dungeons and Dragons with a group of their sister Queens in one of the Parisian cafes that dominated their section of the upper planes.

It was as they were taking a break from their game - after having slain an Ancient Red Dragon! - that their Chevaliers' conversation caught their attention.

_What should we call this new caste, I wonder? My Queens, Brother, Sisters, any suggestions?_

_Rebirth and I suggest Gargoyles. _

_Drat. I was about to suggest that too. Guess I'll have to think of something else. The more options our Queens have, the better. Hmm… How about Ujit? It's the name of the Vietnamese Bigfoot I heard about when I was serving in Indochina._

"I like Marc's suggestion." One of their sisters, Cybele, a twenty something looking woman with classical Mediterranean features that looked copied off a statue of an Olympian goddess instead of a living, breathing woman and beautiful green eyes said. "It's very creative."

"Agreed." Cybele's violet eyed twin, Magda, said. "It has my vote too."

"Maybe, but they honestly remind me of the Tanar'ri to be frank." Ksusha, their teenaged looking, blonde haired, mauve eyed sister of Slavic stock suggested instead.

"Isn't that name a little too hard to pronounce?" Ninochka, Ksusha's orange eyed twin, countered. "Besides they look more like a Devil to me than a Demon."

"I don't think we want to call any of our castes Devils," Shiro pointed out with a frown.

"But I think you're on the right track there Ninochka." Kuro said with a thoughtful hum. "How about Fiends instead? Devils are Fiends aren't they, and it's a less loaded word."

This was met with broad agreement from the present Hive Queens.

"Good. Then that's what we'll call them. Shiro, please."

Rolling her eyes at her twin's laziness, Shiro reached her mind out to their Chevaliers.

_Fiends. _She told them firmly. _We will call our new caste Fiends._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done!
> 
> Long chapter, huh? I didn't set out for it to be but that's what it became. Hopefully, it was to your liking.
> 
> I think I explained pretty much everything I wanted to within the chapter itself, so that's all for this post. Till next time, apochairetismós!


	22. Troubles at Home - Blood in the Water

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of the IPs from which any imported elements may originate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Pegasus War**

**Chapter Twenty Two: Troubles at Home - Blood in the Water**

**Beta: **

* * *

It was a pleasant evening on _Atlantis _but sadly the Atlantis Expedition senior staff were in no position to enjoy it. Instead they'd found themselves sequestered in the cityship's primary conference room for an emergency meeting called by Yuki.

Not that it was an overly serious affair though.

"Yuki!" Dr. McKay said as he filed in, one of the last to arrive as usual.

This time at least this wasn't because he'd snuck off to have a quickie with his girlfriend at least, but the result of a legitimate delay caused by cleaning up a lab accident.

"Yes, Dr. McKay?"

"Must you be so formal? Call me Rodney already."

"But you're an adult. And I'm just a teenager. It wouldn't be appropriate." Yuki said with a nervous air as she played up the schoolgirl vibe that her human form conveyed.

"I have it on good authority that you're older than me." Dr. McKay said with a roll of his eyes.

Yuki just shot him a mischievous grin.

"Whatever." The good doctor said in a frustrated huff. "I just wanted to ask you to relay my thanks to the Flagisallus for saving me when my Jumper crashed into the ocean last week."

"I have already done so."

"Could you do it again?"

"You know what? Why don't you just come down to the Hive Complex one day when you're free and just use our translator to do so in person? I believe that the juvenile that assisted you is frequently found swimming nearby."

"I'd like that. Thanks." Dr. McKay said genuinely. "I think I'll do that after this meeting. One other thing though, I wanted to check with you if the drones and Puddle Jumpers we acquired from the Lord-ahem-Lady Protector's world has been cleared for use. They passed the checks on my end, but how about yours?"

"Same," Yuki told him seriously, before letting her grin turn teasing. "By Lady Protector I take it you mean Colonel Sheppard's wife?"

"I thought he didn't go through with it!"

"That's not what I heard," Yuki said with a smirk before turning to Colonel Sheppard as he walked into the conference room. "Colonel Sheppard! How's your wife?"

"Mara? She's doing fine." Sheppard said seriously. "I just spoke to her last night. I'm planning on visiting her over the weekend."

"What? I thought the whole marriage was just a farce?"

"It was supposed to be," Sheppard said scratching his head sheepishly. "But Dr. Weir convinced me that it would be the diplomatic option to keep it going. Mara _is _the Lady Protector of her planet, even if they are transiting to a constitutional monarchy. So, yeah, I agreed."

"And the Lady Protector didn't help to convince you."

"Uh, I wouldn't disagree that Mara was _very _convincing."

"So when is the formal ceremony, Colonel?" Yuki asked. "I need time to pick out a dress, so some notice would be nice."

"The formal ceremony is going to be after the transition is complete, so I have no idea yet. But Dr. Weir did all the legal work on our end to keep me from backing out. So, uh, I'll let you guys know?"

"You do that, Colonel." Yuki said sporting a happy smile.

"You lucky bastard," Dr. McKay said, shaking his head in disbelief. "Well, at least you won't be hogging all the hot Ascended women now."

"I suppose so," Sheppard said with an awkward smile. "Though Mara did mention the possibility of sharing."

McKay groaned while Yuki giggled. "I suppose that means she's not upset about the whole Phoebus and Thalan incident."

"She was, uh, quite understanding." Sheppard said with a sheepish smile.

"I'm sure she was," Yuki replied with a teasing grin.

"Gentlemen, now that we're all here can we begin the meeting?" Dr. Weir declared. "As exciting as recalling recent events in Colonel Sheppard's exciting life especially my recent starring role is, I do believe we have even more important things to discuss."

Murmurs explode in the conference room at Dr. Weir's statement.

"Later," the Expedition leader reminded everyone.

As everyone quietened down, Dr. Weir turned to Yuki. "Miss Iwasaki, I believe you had something you wanted to brief everyone about?"

"Yes, and unfortunately it's not quite as pleasantly exciting as our previous topic of discussion." Yuki said grimly. "My agents have received word that the Asurans are forcibly inoculating humans on dozens of worlds with the Hoffan drug, resulting in untold deaths."

The room looked aghast at the news.

"Carson, you've been working on a counteragent to the drug correct? How far along are you?"

"Not very, Colonel." the Chief Medical Officer said looking pained. "It's not been a priority-"

"It is now." Dr. Weir decreed.

Dr. Beckett nodded. "Aye. But even with more resources, it'll take time."

"I do not mean to rush you any further Dr. Beckett, but urgency is of the essence." Yuki said apologetically. "For the Wraith are adding to the death toll as well. In the face of the Hoffan drug, they've responded with a biological weapon of their own in the form of a virus that kills all those inoculated with the Hoffan drug."

"But that doesn't make sense," Dr. McKay said, looking confused. "How would that stop the Asurans from spreading the Hoffan drug? It's not like they care how many humans die in their war with the Wraith."

"It's not about spreading the drug, McKay." Ronon told him looking murderous.

"Mr. Dex is correct." Marc agreed, serving Yuki sensed as a mouthpiece for Prophet's likely accurate assessment. "The Wraith do not strictly need free roaming humans, their deplorable farms provide them more than enough sustenance. They maintain them simply to satisfy their desire for the hunt. Hence, their virus is seen by them as simply an easy means to identify compromised individuals among their prey."

"That's so Wraith," McKay noted with a despairing tone.

"Carson, will countering the Hoffan drug's effectiveness also neutralize the Wraith's own plague?" Ms. Emmagan asked hopefully.

"If it only attacks when it detects the Hoffan drug in a body, then yes. But that's a big if."

"Thankfully, I should have some samples for you to test if that's true shortly, Dr. Beckett." Yuki reassured the Scotsman.

"Then I expect you to find out if that "big if" is the case or not." Dr. Weir said with a frown. "And if not-"

"Come up with a cure for the Wraith plague?" Dr. Beckett asked rhetorically. "I'll get on it as soon as I get the samples."

"I'll have them delivered to your lab as soon as I get them."

"Thank you, Yuki." Weir with a nod. "Is there anything else?"

Nobody spoke up.

"Then this meeting is dismissed."

* * *

Royen patiently in one of _Atlantis_' storage room as the team under Doctors Beckett and McKay ran final checks on the nanovirus they'd designed to counteract the effect of the Hoffan drug. It was based on the nanovirus now known to have originally developed by the Asurans which had caused an outbreak during the early days of the Expedition.

_I don't understand the caution to be honest. _Royce, Royen's human half, said sounding perplexed. _We've already used it on the populations within the space we control. We know it works and is safe._

_Perhaps, but it never hurts to be cautious._

_Enjol is correct, _Royen added. _Besides, both Dr. Beckett and Dr. McKay have rather unpleasant memories of the original nanovirus outbreak. That they'd be extra cautious to prevent a repeat is understandable._

"It's all set." Dr. Beckett said at long last. "Royen it's all yours now."

_Finally. _Royce said, expressing all of Royen's relief and exasperation with the wait.

While deploying the nanovirus on the worlds the Expedition had liberated had been rather straightforward, doing so to the rest of Pegasus and quickly, more so than natural spread through trade and travel between worlds would allow, was a challenge. One that Royen had overcome by constructing small scale fold drives for the large number of delivery probes that would be delivering the nanovirus far outside the reach of the Expedition's fleet. As far as intel could tell, while Wraith and Asuran interdictor technology continued to be effective against hyperspace travel it was still unable to stop space folding, hence this was the ideal solution to their problems.

"Status on the Neutrino-ion generators?" Royen asked his lab assistant.

"Power levels are stable. Power flow to probes is steady. All fold drives read green."

"Good. Then fold!"

One by one, the thousands of probes with their payload of life saving nanites disappeared in small spheres of light. The probe's fold drives would burn out after the one fold, the system was never meant for such miniaturization and that he managed to do so had been a minor miracle. One he'd depleted the Expedition's supply of magicite to create. And that had just been building the drives, he still had to power them. In the end, he'd used an external power supply namely one of their spare Tau'ri built Neutrino-ion generators to directly power the probes' single fold. That would leave with only its much weaker Naquadah generator to power it as it dispersed the nanovirus in the atmosphere of the planet the orbit of which it had transported, but that would be more than enough.

"Folds complete." The lab assistant announced. "Subspace transponders show 87% of probes appear to be on target."

"Did we get all target worlds?" Dr. Beckett asked urgently.

"Affirmative."

"Great, then we just have another what ten rounds of this before we cover all known inhabited worlds?" Dr. McKay asked with a tired sigh.

"If we don't miss a target world in one of our waves then yes." Royen said with a nod. "But even with multiple probes per planet that is no guarantee. Plus there is the fact that the Wraith and Asurans are almost certainly going to respond to this by accelerating their research into interdicting fold travel."

"Which means we're on a time limit, I get it." Dr. McKay said, looking chastised.

"Don't look so glum, Rodney." Dr. Beckett said patting his friend on the back. "We're saving lives here."

"Yeah, I get it. So let's get to work on the next wave already."

"That's the spirit Rodney."

Royen could only shake his head at the conundrum that was Rodney McKay. The man was a living contradiction. One minute he was busy complaining to high heaven about doing something but once presented that it would be for the greater good, he'd become the champion for working to the bone to make it happen.

_What a peculiar person._

* * *

A week after the operation to distribute the Anti-Hoffan Drug nanovirus, Yuki lounged in her private quarters in the Lantean Hive Complex reviewing the intel her agents had gathered on the matter. Ostensibly, she shouldn't have brought her work home. However, when the choice came between working in the cold, utilitarian office she kept on _Atlantis _which she used mainly for official meetings and the odd informal interrogation, or her comfortable apartment down in the Hive Complex there was simply no contest.

Lying down on a divan and surrounded by the various knick knacks - ranging from the captured armor of one of the Goa'uld System Lord Olokun's Magi-Uchawi to her birth family's heirloom katana that she'd stolen shortly after her conversion and everything imaginable in between - she'd collected over the years while enjoying a cup of tea usually made work so much easier to bear. Today however even those creature comforts couldn't fight off the frown that spread across her face as she read the reports.

Despite the Expedition's best efforts, it seemed that a good chunk of the galaxy's human populations had been killed by either the drug itself or the Wraith response. The estimates she had were likely unreliable, but her best guess was that about 20% of all humans outside of liberated space or in Wraith farms were dead.

_How in the world am I going to explain something like this to the rest of the Expedition leadership? _Yuki thought to herself with a grimace. _And this probably isn't even the end of it. If my analysts are right, and I think they are, then the Wraith and the Asuran will see our deployment of the nanovirus as a provocation and launch counter attacks against us._

"Damn it," the Chevalier cursed. "It never rains but it pours, doesn't it?"

* * *

Yuki's fears were realised when the Wraith launched a surprise attack against Manaria despite it being deep behind the Expedition liberated space. As a result, they had caught Hermóðr, current commander of the world's garrison fleet, completely off guard.

_Damn the Wraith's new stealth armor! With it practically rendering out long range sensors useless we cannot even see them coming. _The Asgard said using uncharacteristic harsh language even as he ordered the _Hala_'s computer to send a request to Lantea for reinforcements.

That done, he moved a command stone on his console and activated his comms to address his fleet.

"All ships form up into defensive formations." The Asgard commander ordered the ships under his command. "We're outnumbered but we _will _hold our ground!"

Barely finished giving his fleet orders, Hermóðr checked that the request for reinforcements that he'd queued up had been sent.

Much to Hermóðr's surprise, the Wraith fleet, at least twice the size of his own, split up. The largest portion continued to move to engage him, but more worryingly the rest broke up into small groups. Some of these split off to silence the defense satellites already carving their ships into pieces, without support from his fleet the satellites wouldn't last long. As disheartening as that was, other groups of Wraith ships were more ominously moving towards Manaria's cities.

_They're going to hold us in position while the rest cull the planet._ The Asgard commander realised with horror. _And there is little we can do about it._

The enemy's numerical advantage was just too great.

"Move over the Manarian capital." Hermóðr ordered the fleet in an angry, resigned hiss. "We can't protect the whole planet but at least we will safeguard its biggest city."

The battle that followed probably didn't even deserve that name. The Wraith barely made an effort to destroy Hermóðr's forces, instead keeping a distance and refusing to engage, instead using their mere presence to keep them contained. They only ever seriously engaged whenever the Expedition forces made an attempt to break out, successfully repelling these attempts each time. A few of his ships had tried to use microjumps to escape the Wraith only to be caught in the enemy's interdictor fields.

It was a painful ten minutes before the reinforcements Hermóðr requested arrived and the Wraith fled, leaving behind three culled cities and thousands taken to become food for the monsters.

* * *

The attack on Manaria was not the only Wraith raid. They had struck at worlds all across liberated space. As a result, the Expedition was forced to redeploy its forces to strengthen its garrisons over their most populated liberated planets which were the prime targets of these surprise Wraith attacks. Unfortunately, this had the side effect of leaving other worlds vulnerable to attack from the Expedition's other enmey: the Asurans.

One such attack was launched on M4D-058. This had been a planet that Lt. Colonel John Sheppard and Dr. Rodney McKay played around with in their free time, using the equipment from an Lantean social engineering experiment they'd found in a lab on _Atlantis _which steered the development of its native population. Dr. Weir had put a stop to their game as soon as she'd found out about it and since then the world had become a major production centre for the equipment of the various planetary militias that the Expedition has established on their liberated worlds.

Thus as the Asuran fleet dropped out of hyperspace it did not surprise Tommen that the Replicators had targeted the planet. They no doubt wanted to destroy this major logistical hub of the Expedition.

_What does surprise me is that it seems the Asurans have either stolen or duplicated the Wraith's stealth armor. _Tommen noted with a scowl. _It's the only way they could evaded detection now._

"Sir, Shiplord Lucius of _The Great Adventure _is assuming command of the fleet." Tommen's XO reported, dragging him away from his musings.

Usually the Expedition's lone Mel'tak was kept firmly in the rear lines. It's fold drive and the mobility it offered the Expedition was too valuable to risk on the frontlines despite the dreadnought's formidable capabilities. However, fate had played them for fools. _The Great Adventure _had been there to load up the materiel built by M4D-058 for disruption elsewhere in liberation space and thanks to that, it would see combat after all.

"As is expected. He does have seniority." Tommen acknowledged with a nod. "What are his orders?"

"Hold position over the inhabited area on the planet and await reinforcement."

Tommen growled at the comms officer's response. The strategy didn't appeal to his aggressive tendencies, but he had to admit that it was valid. Especially when the enemy had them outnumbered them three to two, even counting the defense satellites they'd placed in orbit.

_We have to avoid attrition as much as possible as well, considering reinforcement from the Milky Way is on hold._

"Very well." Tommen said without hinting at his inner thoughts. "Move us into position."

* * *

Even as Tommen and the rest of the M4D-058 garrison fleet fought the Asurans in orbit, Terence and his team fought the Asuran ground forces as they tried to do what their space fleet could not and dislodge the Expedition from the planet. AR-15 had originally been on the planet accompanying Captain Solos of the Lucuan Militia as his guards and sources of expert advice should he need it as the man examined the latest shipment of supplies the locals had manufactured for his men. Now though, he, Kevan and the local Geldarans and Hallonans found themselves instead fighting to hold back wave after wave of Replicator infantry.

"At least they don't have armor," Yod mused as he laid down intense suppressive fire with his Rotary Staff Cannon to allow the rest of the team to usher a group of terrified Geldaran civilians towards the Stargate that the Expedition had placed on the world to replace the Spacegate that used to service it.

"No, instead they are just naturally durable." Larry said as he tossed a pair of grenades he'd fished out of his mokeskin pouch at a trio of Asurans trying to flank their position. "How I wish we could equip _all _our weapons with keron disruptors."

"Dream of pipe dreams later," Terence shouted. "Right now we need to fall back. Yod keep up the suppressive fire. The fleet is too busy to provide us ortillery support."

"Gotcha boss!"

"Major, we're almost all the way to the Stargate already." Wrex noted worriedly as he put down a foolhardy Asuran peeking his head out of cover to get a good shot. "We're running out of space to give."

"I know." Terence replied with a grimace.

_If we lose any more ground I'm gonna to need to call a full scale evacuation._

* * *

"Sir! _The Great Adventure_'s shields are failing!"

"Can anyone move to help take some of the enemy fire off of it?" Tommen asked his comms officer, already knowing the answer from his glance at the tactical display.

"Negative. The _Hundun_ and _Taotie_ have both already moved into blocking positions but the enemy is just shooting around them."

"They are determined to sink the Mel'tak." Tommen's XO concluded with a hiss.

Tommen didn't know if the Asurans realized the strategic importance of _The Great Adventure _or were simply targeting it because it was the most powerful ship they were currently facing. Either way, they were about to deal the Expedition a great blow.

"Sir! The _Adventure_'s shields have just failed! It's receiving critical damage! Shiplord Lucius is abandoning ship."

"Damn it! Where are our reinforcements?"

"ETA is-" The sensor officer said, before hastily correctly himself. "Hyperspace window detected! Reinforcements have arrived! It's the Fiendish fleet. They are maneuvering to engage the Asurans from the rear."

"Hail the garrison," Tommen ordered, a vindictive gleam in his eyes. "Tell them to advance on the enemy. We'll catch the Replicators in a pincer."

_You machines won't be leaving here alive. _Tommen swore to himself. _You've made us bleed. Now let us return the favour._

* * *

On the ground below, the defeat of their space fleet meant an end to their reinforcements and a turning of the tide for the Asuran ground forces as well. With Expedition troops now pouring in through the Gate and beaming down from orbit, though thankfully no Fiendish infantry, they were swiftly rounded up and annihilated. Helped along by generous amounts of the previously absent ortillery.

All that was left was to survey the aftermath and it horrified Terence. It wasn't the first time. He'd seen what the Asurans and Wraith had done to Hoff. And what the Replicators had done to Traska. But it never got easier.

"How can anyone keep going after something like this?" The Singaporean asked as he looked out at the burnt out ruins that had once been the thriving town around M4D-058's Stargate.

"Because we must," Kevan said as he came to stand next to him. "Because we're used to it. This is not an uncommon sight here in the Pegasus."

"It's not right."

"No, but this is an unfair world. One that we nevertheless must live in."

"I admire your strength, Kevan." Terence said honestly, still unable to tear his eyes away from the devastation. "The strength of all those who live in the Pegasus. Who live with through things like this."

"And I admire yours, Major, for risking everything to come to another galaxy to fight a war that is not yours to save us from such lives."

"It's the right thing to do."

"And being able to do it is why you are a strong man." Kevan told him, clasping his shoulder. "But come. Your men are looking for you."

Terence nodded and with the help of the older man's guiding hand on his shoulder finally turned away from the wreckage of destroyed lives that the Asurans had left in their wake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done!
> 
> Now onto the things I want to address this chapter...
> 
> Yes, I made Sheppard marry the Lady Protector's daughter from the episode The Tower. Why? Because as I rewatched the series and reached that point, I got fed up with him getting the girl over and over again but not keeping them. So forcing him to actually follow through on one of these romances, and possibly the most shallow one of all by this point in the story, is my little snub to that particular overused plot.
> 
> Actually, that's all I really had to say. That being the case, till next time bayartai!


	23. Troubles at Home - Celebrating Distant Victories

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of the IPs from which any imported elements may originate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Pegasus War**

**Chapter Twenty Three: Troubles at Home - Celebrating Distant Victories**

**Beta: **

* * *

As the saying went 'good news travels fast'. Thus news that the Coalition had emerged victorious in the Ori War reached all the way to _Atlantis _within an hour of the formal end of hostilities and within an hour of that every member of the Expedition was aware of the news. It was perhaps no surprise that within the four hours that the news reached the cityship and the sun set, its inhabitants had managed to organize quite an elaborate celebration.

Through sheer hard work and dedication, they had converted the cityship's west pier usually reserved as a landing pad for visiting ships into an open air party ground. It was in a shadowy corner of these impromptu grounds that Yuki and Marc were hiding, sipping on their drinks as they talked business.

"It seems the Technical Sciences Department has finished developing countermeasures to the stealth technology used by the Wraith and the Asurans in their last surprise attacks," the Expedition Intel Head said to her brother. "The relevant upgrades to the sensor suites should be installed across the Expedition Fleet within the week."

"That's fast," Marc observed.

"It was a relatively simple fix apparently," Yuki shrugged.

"There you two are," Kurohime said as she and Shirohime walked up to them. "What are you doing hiding out over here?"

"We were just discussing some business." Yuki said honestly, earning a wince from her brother.

"Business? At a party like this?" Kurohime said with a shake of her head, even as Shirohime frowned. "Really now, Yuki. You should know better."

"Sorry," the female Chevalier said with her head bowed.

"No need for that," Shirohime said tilting her head up gently. "But no more business for tonight, alright?"

"Yes, Shiro."

"You too, Marc." Kurohime said firmly.

"Of course," Marc replied easily.

"Good, now then." Shiro said taking Yuki's hand. "Let's go dance shall we?"

Yuki nodded, complying readily as her Queens led Marc and her off to the dance floor that taken over most of landing strip on the west pier for the occasion.

* * *

"They certainly look to be enjoying themselves," Norina said with a grin as she gestured with her flute of champagne at Sheppard and his wife Mara as they danced to some pop song that Rodney couldn't even recognize that was playing on the dance floor.

"Yes, well. Sheppard wanted to show his wife Earth dances."

"Interesting," Norina said, sounding intrigued. "Are all Earth dances this, uh, energetic?"

"No, there's quite a range actually." Rodney said carefully. "Not that I know much about it. I'm not much of a dancer."

"I didn't expect you to be." Norina said with a saucy wink. "You're more likely to be in a lab working up something to save the world than to spend time on the dance floor."

"Would you like to dance though?" Rodney asked cautiously, uncertain of the direction this conversation was taking.

"I don't think so. This style of dancing looks a little too energetic for my taste." Norina said with a kiss to Rodney's cheek. "But thanks for asking."

Smiling happily, Rodney pulled his girlfriend into a proper kiss.

"So what would you like to do instead?"

"How about more of what you just did?" Norina said with a grin as she pulled Rodney into the kiss this time.

* * *

Sarah sat alone at one of the small tables sat up all along _Atlantis_' west pier for the celebration. All around, the Expedition was celebrating the Coalition victory over the Ori with veritable abandon. She'd even seen Dr. Weir figuratively let down her hair and join the Ops Room technicians in a round of drinks. Elsewhere she'd spotted Ronon, Teyla in tow as a restraining influence, round up the other native members of the AR teams and was busy engaging in an increasingly rowdy drinking contest. And the less said about the increasingly over the top drunken antics of Colonel Sheppard and his wife the better. Despite all this good cheer around her, Sarah was feeling incredibly lonely.

While she was just as pleased with the victorious end to the Ori War as anyone else, Sarah was missing Daniel too much to truly get into the swing of the party. Thus she had chosen to just sit by her lonesome and sip drinks whilst observing everything. It was also why she'd volunteered to be the senior staff's designated sober person - Colonel Sheppard's words - and be in charge until such time as the others could shake off their hangovers.

_Do Chevaliers even get hangovers?_ Sarah mused idly as she looked at Yuki and Marc dancing with their Queens in the mess of bodies that was the dance floor. Prophet and Rebirth it seemed had taken the opportunity to slip away and take a breather. Sarah couldn't blame them. It seemed that the chance to let loose had let out some repressed party animals in the usually calm and collected Chiropteran Queens. Keeping up with them must be exhausting even for Chevaliers.

Her tablet beeping had her fishing it out of her purse. She'd brought the device along thinking she might find the time to do some work, but so far hadn't gotten around to it. She might not have been in a party mood herself, but watching the antics of those who were was quite entertaining in its own right.

As she finally pulled the computer free, her eyes widened in surprise as she saw it was a call from Daniel.

"Daniel?" She said as she accepted the intergalactic call. "Give me a minute to go somewhere more quiet."

"_Sure thing, Sarah."_ Daniel said with an easygoing smile. "_I take it there's quite a party going on right now?"_

"Yes," Sarah replied as she walked away from the party area and towards a transporter. "We're celebrating the victory over the Ori. I'm going to use a transporter to get back to my room. It's quieter and more private there. Can you call me back in five minutes?"

"_Of course."_

* * *

Five minutes later, Sarah sat on the comfortable armchair that Daniel had helped picked out for the window nook of her quarters as she smiled at the aforementioned man's face on her tablet.

"Hello Daniel." Sarah greeted happily.

"_Hi Sarah," _her boyfriend returned just as affectionately.

"So no party back on Earth?" Sarah asked, curious.

"_There are, but I'm not attending any of those. They are literally celebrating on the streets in some places. That's too wild for me. I am going to the one Jack's organizing up in his cabin in a couple days though."_

"I wish I could be there."

"_Why not come?"_

"What do you mean?"

"_Well, you have plenty of saved up leave correct?"_

Sarah nodded.

"_So why not apply to spend it on Earth. I'm sure Elizabeth would approve it."_

"That sounds like a great idea. I'll speak to Elizabeth about it in the morning. After she's gotten over her hangover."

"_Elizabeth is drinking!? Enough to get a hangover tomorrow?"_ Smiling at his shock, Sarah nodded. "_That must be one hell of a party."_

"It is," Sarah agreed with a laugh.

"_I missed this,"_ Daniel said suddenly. "_Laughing with you. I miss you."_

"I miss you too."

"_I know. And I'm sorry for being away so long."_

"It's not your fault. You couldn't help it. Besides I told you to go."

"_Yes, and I don't regret coming back. The things I have been part of- Watching the Battle of Celestis was amazing, Sarah. Like something straight out of legend."_

"I'm sure it was." Sarah said with a smile, amused by Daniel's enthusiasm more than anything else.

"_Sorry. I got caught up didn't I?"_

"You did, but it's fine."

Daniel just scratched the back of his head and offered her a boyish smile that never failed to make her heart skip a beat.

Smirking, proving that he knew exactly what kind of effect he had on her, Daniel changed topics.

"_So what have you been doing lately?"_

Sarah spent the rest of the night swapping stories with her boyfriend, ending with a promise for her to not only apply for leave to return to Earth so she could accompany Daniel to Jack's party but also to request a permanent transfer back to Earth.

* * *

"This view is amazing!" Yelana said in awe.

"It certainly is," Terence agreed.

Though he was fairly sure they were talking about entirely different things. Yelana was mesmerized by the view from the observation deck at the top of the highest tower of _Atlantis'_ east pier. With its unobstructed view of the ocean, contrasted by the cityship's amazing skyline it was impressive indeed. However, in Terence's opinion it paled in comparison to the way Yelana looked as they sea breeze played with her beautiful red hair and the amazed expression that lit up her face. It was like looking at a vision of Aphrodite herself.

"But why did we come up here?" Yelana asked once she finally managed to tear her eyes away from the view. "I mean the party is all the way down there on the west pier."

"Well, it's not like it's going to end any time soon. So why not take a breather."

"That's all is it?" Yelana asked, her sparkling green eyes narrowed knowingly. "Why don't I believe you?"

"I don't know?" Terence said with a grin, unwilling to end the charade quite yet. "You tell me."

"Maybe because I know my betrothed well enough to tell when he's lying?"

"Am I now?"

"Yes you are." Yelana insisted. "And I know just the way to get you to talk."

"And that is?"

"This!" The stunning redhead said as he pounced on Terence with her hands raised. "Tickle, tickle~!"

As her perfect fingers attacked his flesh all over in a concerted attack, Terence cursed himself for being foolish enough to introduce this particular torture to his girlfriend. At least until, the torment became too much and he caved. Bursting into uncontrolled laughter, he admitted defeat.

"Alright, I give. I give." He said in between bouts of laughter.

"Out with it then," Yelana said with a proud grin at her victory. "Why are we up here?"

Checking his watch and seeing that his timing was right, Terence smirked pointed skyward. "To have front row seats to _that_."

He'd just finished his sentence when the sky was suddenly lit up by massive auroras. It was like the whole night sky had come alive with streams of breathtaking prismatic lights.

"Wow!" His beloved said in a gasp of pleasant shock. "It's beautiful. What is it?"

"It's the radiation from the sun's coronal mass ejection washing over the planet."

"Radiation? Isn't that dangerous?" Yelana asked still too enchanted by the aurora to look away.

"Don't worry about that." Terence reassured her. "The new planetary shield will keep out most of the radiation. The rest will be absorbed by the atmosphere, in fact it's the gases doing that which creates the auroras."

"Thank you, Terence." Yelana said after a long moment enjoying the brilliantly lit night sky. "Thank you for everything. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me, you know that?"

Terence wasn't sure what Yelana meant by everything but as the redhead turned to him and gently pressed her lips to his own in a firm kiss, any thought to ask what she meant fled from his mind. As her lips parted slightly and her tongue ran across his own in invitation, all thoughts but reciprocating fled too.

In the end, they never did make it back to the party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done!
> 
> Hope you guys liked this attempt of mine at some slice of life and romance. Neither are much of a focus in this fic, so I might be rusty at writing them. So please do let me know if there's room for improvement.
> 
> Now, I know I left off the Terence/Yelana scene just when it got to the good part but that's wholly deliberate. Why? Two reasons. First, as I've mentioned before one piece of feedback I've received in the past is to tone down the sex in my work so that's exactly what I did here. Second, sometimes leaving things to the imagination is better. And yes, for those who might still not get it, this does mean that after the chapter faded to black Terence and Yelana consumated their relationship by having sex.
> 
> For those wondering why now? Well, Yelana comes from a society that's roughly medieval/renaissance in its sensibilities wherein being easy in offering sex even to one's romantic partners before marriage is frowned upon. Why then would she offer it now? The heat of the moment mainly, but also a realization that Terence will not abandon her. The whole point of being against sex before marriage is because the risk of it leading to pregnancy and then the father disappearing on the woman, leaving her to care for the child alone (or engage in a life threatening abortion). I'm not going to argue whether this is right or wrong, but it's the rationale behind abstinence before marriage in the medieval/renaissance period and thus among the Lacuans. As such, now that Yelana is sure that Terence will not forsake her, she's willing to take the next step. That becoming a man's sexual partner, and even better potentially the mother of his child, would even more strongly secure the man to her might also factor into the thinking of some woman in Yelana's situation. Though not in her specific case.
> 
> In Terence's case it's a lot simpler. He comes from a society where casual sex is common and there is no taboo against sex before marriage (unless you're a arch conservative or super religious) so the way things developed didn't ring alarm bells to him. As such he didn't really object to what was freely offered to him.
> 
> Wow… I think that psychoanalysis of Terence and Yelana's motivations went a little overboard but I'm heading off any possible critiques here so I'll leave it. Plus, I know some people might be curious. I know I would be if in their shoes.
> 
> That's it though. So till next time, la kon!


	24. Troubles at Home - August Visitors

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of the IPs from which any imported elements may originate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Pegasus War**

**Chapter Twenty Four: Troubles at Home - August Visitors**

**Beta: **

* * *

In the intergalactic void between the Milky Way and Pegasus galaxies which the Coalition had come to call the Pegasus-Milky Way Gulf, Marc commanded a contingent of Expedition ships as they guarded the construction of the Intergalactic Gate Bridge. This was an ambitious project that saw the creation of a network of interconnected Stargates placed in the void between the Milky Way and Pegasus galaxies, through the thirty four Gates in the network and the use of a specially designed macro courtesy of Dr. McKay that forwarded travelers directly from one Stargate to the next without rematerializing them it would when complete allow for almost direct Gate travel from the Milky Way to Pegasus.

There would still need for a midway station of some type as while the two gate systems were compatible, a Pegasus gate without a control crystal - of which there was only one and it was being used in the _Atlantis_ Gate's dialing device - wouldn't be able to dial the Milky Way and if a Pegasus gate and a Milky Way gate are in proximity to each other, the Pegasus gate would override its Milky Way counterpart. This station would be constructed at the midpoint between the two galaxies, where the two chains of Stargates met and allow the Milky Way gate to hold priority for the Milky Way side and the Pegasus gate to hold priority for the Pegasus side, allowing transfer between them. There, it was intended that one need only step out of one Stargate and simply walk across the station and step into the next. It was estimated that with the bridge, travel time between the two galaxies would be about 30 minutes, a drastic reduction from the weeks-long journey required via ship.

Not that the station was in place quite yet.

At this point, they were still only just placing the Pegasus Gates into their positions for their end of the bridge.

_Chevalier._ the Fleetmind called out to Marc, distracting him from observing the Wraith and Asuran fleets that have been shadowing his efforts from a short hyperspace hop away and under the cover of their stealth technology. They were unaware that the Expedition had overcome the technology however and as neither fleet seemed intent on interfering with his operations Marc had been content to leave them be and not tip them off to that fact. That however did not mean he wasn't watching them like a hawk to see if they were preparing to make an aggressive move.

_What is it?_ Marc queried the Fleetmind.

_Sensors are detecting a ship travelling at a significant portion of the speed of light entering our sensor range._

_Relativistic speeds? That's unusual. _Marc replied, genuinely surprised. While not unheard of, it was rare to see space faring vessels using such to travel the stars rather than hyperspace. _Do we know what type of vessel we're dealing with? That of an unknown race perhaps?_

_Negative. Scans indicate a Lantean model _Aurora_-class warship. Its hyperdrive appears damaged._

_That explained why it's using its sublight the way it is. _Marc thought to himself.

_Chevalier, they are hailing us on an open channel._

_Let me hear it._

"_Unknown vessels, I am Captain Helia of the Lantean warship _Tria_."_ The frizzy haired blonde captain of the damaged vessel said from the central viewscreen of _Musashi_'s bridge. "_Our ship has suffered damage. We've scanned your vessels and determined that they are capable of hyperspace travel. We've begun deceleration maneuvers. Will you render assistance in the form of hyperspace transport?"_

Marc was about to reply but a glance at the _Musashi_'s sensor feeds had him grimacing. It seemed they weren't the only ones which had received Captain Helia's hail. Both the Asuran and Wraith fleet had jumped into hyperspace on a direct intercept course.

_Damn it. _Marc cursed. _Musashi, open a channel._

_Channel open._

"This is Chevalier Marc Berlioz of the Chiropteran ship _Musashi_, commander of this detachment of the Atlantis Expedition Fleet." Marc said aloud so that the _Musashi _could forward it over the comms to the _Tria_. "It would be an honor to render assistance in any way we possibly can. However, be warned your open hail has attracted the attention of hostile Wraith and Asuran fleets who are now moving to intercept. Finish your deceleration as soon as possible and we'll form up around you and defend you."

"_We have detected no other ships in the vicinity." _Captain Helia replied skeptically.

"They are employing stealth systems." Marc told her bluntly. "Believe me or not, they will be on our position in minutes. How long till you complete your deceleration maneuvers?"

"_We should be finishing… Now."_

_Confirmation. _The Fleetmind corroborated. _The ship designated the _Tria _has dropped down from relativistic speeds and has come to a relative stop._

_Good. Relay to all ships: Form up in a defensive sphere with the _Tria _at the core._

Even as the Fleetmind passed on his orders and his command moved to carry them out, Marc addressed Captain Helia once more.

"Can you still maneuver at sublight?"

"_Our sublight engines are damaged from maintaining prolonged relativistic speeds and the rapid declaration but remain functional, if not at optimum capacity."_ Captain Helia responded. "_However, I still do not detect any other vessels beyond your fleet. If this is a ruse to surround and attack us-_

"Good enough," Marc informed her, cutting off whatever empty threat she was probably about to make. His scans indicated that the _Tria _was a barely space worthy wreck by this point, if he was attacking her ship she had little that she could use to fight back. "Then maintain your position at the heart of our formation as we move."

The Lantean looked furious, but whatever tirade she was about to launch into was aborted when the Asuran and Wraith fleets exited hyperspace and immediately began vectoring towards their position.

"_How? We didn't detect anything until now!"_

"Their new stealth technology hides them from long range sensors. We needed to upgrade our sensor suites to detect them." Marc told her absently even as he began directing the battle through the Hivemind, having the _Musashi_ relay his orders over the comms to the non-Swarm ships of his task force.

_They're coming up from our port and starboard? That gives me an idea! Relay to all ships: Move us between the two enemy fleets._

"Maintain your position in our formation, Captain Helia." Marc reminded the Lantean captain even as his forces obeyed his orders and began moving themselves directly between the incoming enemy fleets.

"_Of course,"_ the rattled Lantean replied. "_But a Wraith fleet of this size? And Asuran ships? How?"_

"Do that and you will survive this." Marc assured her. "I'll explain the rest after this battle. Till then, Berlioz out."

With that Marc had the _Musashi _cut the connection. He had a battle to fight.

* * *

At the heart of Marc's formation of ships next to the _Tria _was the Cylon Factoryship, the _Graystone_. The converted Cylon War Baseship had been brought along to deploy some of the defensive satellites that the Expedition had reverse engineered around the various Gates of the Intergalactic Gate Bridge. One of these costly satellites which the Expedition had only been able to deploy in a handful of their liberated systems had been slated for each Gate, such was the importance that was placed on the Gate Bridge. They weren't likely to be hold off anything resembling a concerted attack but in addition to a substantial minefield around each Gate, the Expedition had hoped they would serve as a deterrent at least.

This deployment was supposed to be routine. With as large as an escort fleet as had been assigned to accompany them, no one onboard the Cylon ship had expected the Wraith or the Asurans to attack. Even the detection of sizable Wraith and Asuran fleets shadowing them had not changed that assumption. Sure, they were following them and observing their movements but it was clear that neither fleet was keen on engaging the Expedition forces.

That is not until the _Tria _had appeared out of nowhere.

"I resent having to suspend our operations for this," Daniel, the ship's controlling intelligence, complained as the _Graystone_'s bridge crew watched through various viewscreens and interface terminals as it and the rest of Expedition task force moved in perfect formation to a position between the two enemy fleets. "We were almost done deploying the satellite. Surely, holding position there with it to provide support would have been wiser."

"Against these numbers, I don't think a single defense satellite was going to count as much." Aris Fon, the Model Eight Humanoid Cylon, that commanded the Cylon contingent of the Expedition replied. "Neither fleet is as big as ours, but together they outnumber us by roughly 20%."

Daniel grumbled unintelligibly for a moment - Something about delays to their production quota if Aris heard correctly - but otherwise made no comment.

"Anyway, it looks like the Commander's plan is working." Aris said as she saw from the tactical display she was looking at showed elements of both enemy fleets broke off from engaging friendly forces to engage each other. "Divide and conquer. A truly time tested classic."

"Aris! We've received orders to maneuver into position above the enemy." A Three manning the comms station shouted. "We're to maintain formation as we move."

"Then do it." Aris said, looking to the Five operating the helm who nodded.

"These Asurans and Wraith do not seem to have their priorities in order."

"I can't argue with that, Daniel." Aris said as she watched the two enemy formations all but forget about the Expedition fleet that had been their initial targets even as it slipped out from between them. "I suppose being millenia long foes causes this kind of tunnel vision."

"That is no excuse." Daniel said with a disgusted snort. "We've moved into a good firing position by the way. Shall I fire off a missile salvo?"

"Go right ahead," Aris said with a grin as she dipped her hands into the nearest interface pool. She wanted to see this for herself.

Using the liquid interface medium as a link, she looked through the _Graystone's _exterior cameras as a dozen Naquadah enhanced nuclear missiles shot out from its launch tubes and joined the rain of plasma and other more exotic energy bolts as they fell down on the distracted Wraith and Asuran fleets. Most of the _Graystone'_s missiles were taken out by the enemy's point defense but one managed to slip through and slam into the weakened shields of an Asuran _Aurora _and detonated, unleashing the power of a short lived but powerful star on the vessel. This shattered its already strained shields and disintegrated much of the ship, leaving it a charred wreck. A sight that brought a smile to her face.

_Enemy losses are at about 59%. _The Two manning the sensors announced, his voice reaching directly into her mind through her link to the _Graystone_'s systems. _We have this in the bag._

_That we do. _Aris said with a feral grin. _That we do._

* * *

A week after the Expedition victory in the Second Battle of the Pegasus-Milky Way Gulf, Terence and AR-15 found themselves joining the large party Dr. Weir had assembled to greet the Lantean survivors rescued from the derelict Ancient warship the _Tria_. He'd honestly been surprised at the order to be part of the group that lined the Gate room in anticipation, though in hindsight he probably shouldn't have been. Thanks to some political wrangling back home and apparently Sheppard's recommendation, he'd been appointed as the Colonel's second in command for the AR Division.

_Which makes me just about senior enough to warrant a place here I guess._

"Elizabeth," Dr. Grodin said from the Ops Room balcony that overlooked the Gate, silencing the excited muttering of the gathered greeting party. "The _Musashi_ is ready to beam down our people and the Ancient delegation."

"Thank you." Dr. Weir said with a nod as she unzipped her jacket.

_She's going for a less formal feel I see. _Terence noted as he rolled his eyes as dozens of others in the greeting party copied her lead. Yod chuckled at that, but Wrex quickly put a stop to that with a glare and Larry made sure he would behave with a quick Silencing Charm.

Just in time too. As they'd barely finished reining in their joker of a teammate when with the characteristic chime and burst of light of a transporter beam, Chevalier Marc and five Lanteans beamed into the room near the Stargate. Immediately, Dr. Weir and the other senior staff approached the Ancients.

"Dr. Weir, this is Helia, captain of the Ancient ship Tria." The Chevalier introduced the blonde leader of the Lanteans.

"It's an honor to meet you." Dr. Weir said with a slight bow.

"Thank you," Helia said with a polite smile. "And from what I'm told, you've done a remarkable job preserving our city.

"Well, we did what we could with what we had."

"I need to speak to the leader of your people." The Lantean said rather rudely, causing Terence to narrow his eyes.

"I'm in charge of the Atlantis expedition."

"You misunderstand me, Dr. Weir. I need to talk to the one who can speak for all the people of Earth."

"That can certainly be arranged. But may I ask why?"

A console suddenly rose up out of the floor, forcing Ronon to jump back out of the way. He raised his gun at the new device. Dr. McKay said something under his breath, sounding surprised and if Terence wasn't reading it wrong angry. Ignoring him, Helia put her hand on the device.

"It's not responding? Why?"

"We disabled that lockout device long ago," Miss Yuki said stepping forward with a furious look on her face and gesturing at the Lanteans.

"Yeah! You think we wouldn't find something like that?" Dr. McKay said even as a pack of Chiropteran Warriors had surged out of the crowd. "What do you take us for? Idiots?"

The Lanteans tried to put up a struggle as the Chiropterans restrained them but against the physically far superior Chiropterans they stood no chance.

"How dare you do this!?" Helia shouted in defiance even as a Chiropteran Warrior pressed her firmly to the ground. "_Atlantis _belongs to _my _people! You have no right to the city!"

"I beg to differ," a musical voice said as in a burst of brilliant golden light two beautiful women materialized next to Dr. Weir.

Startled, the senior staff jumped back and Ronon leveled his gun at them. Sheppard stepped in quickly though before he could do something stupid like shoot the reigning couple of the Albion Stellar Empire. A shocked Dr. Weir moved to say something, probably apologize but a glare from the Mother Empress, complete with lightning sparking out of her eyes, told her to back off.

"Teacher Lal?" Helia gasped in shock at seeing the Mother Empress' Consort.

"Yes, it's me." The taller of the new arrivals confirmed. "Helia, my former student."

"How?"

"I Ascended." The Ascended Lantean said with a smile at what must have been an old acquaintance. "Something that it is my hope you and your crew will soon achieve as well."

"But _Alantis_-"

"Now belongs to the Coalition of Free Peoples and its Atlantis Expedition as decreed by the successor to the Lantean Council, the Others."

"That- No, I cannot accept that!"

It seemed that didn't sit well with Nimue and the Ascended Goa'uld stepped forward, electricity sparking in her hands and a murderous look on her face.

"There is no need for that, Nimue. We'll handle this." An Asian looking woman said as she and a dozen other Ascended appeared behind the Mother Empress. Dressed in what Terence recognized as Lantean combat dress and surrounded by an aura of power, they looked very marital indeed.

_What is this? A soap opera? Where are all these Ascended coming from?_

Unbeknownst to Terence, up on the Ascended Plane the scene playing out before him was indeed being watched by many Ascended with the same level of interest that many on Earth would give to a soap opera.

"Councilor Melia?" Helia said, clearly shocked by the new arrivals.

"I think this might be the first time that I've ever had the Others actually working _with _me." The Mother Empress said, sounding amused.

The Melia woman chuckled, but turned her attention to Helia.

"Yes, Captain Helia it's me."

"Then-" The Lantean captain said, a hopeful gleam in her eyes.

"My Chiropteran friends please release her and her men to my custody please."

The Warriors turned to their Chevaliers for confirmation and promptly released their prisoners at Commander Marc's nod. Before the Lanteans could try anything, they found themselves restrained by the Ascended.

"Might I know what's going on here?" Dr. Weir asked finally.

_Hopefully, nobody takes offense to her interrupting their show._

Thankfully, Terence need not have worried. Unlike Nimue before her, this Melia woman responded by turning to address Dr. Weir with a smile.

"Merely carrying out the decree passed by our leadership. It has been decided that _Atlantis _is to be the Others' reward to the Coalition for its successful elimination of the threat posed by the Ori. From this day forward, we transfer all rights of ownership to the city and its contents to the Atlantis Expedition."

"Reward?"

"I insisted," Mother Empress Nimue said with a shrug. "We deserved something after fighting their war for them."

"And your argument was very persuasive." Melia agreed.

"Thank you, your Majesty." A stunned Dr. Weir recovered enough to turn to turn to the Mother Empress and say with a grateful bow. Said monarch just returned a nod in reply.

"Where will you take them?" Dr. Weir asked the leader of the Others' force.

"The Cloister, where they will reach Ascension."

"Do we have any choice in this?" Helia demanded.

"No," Nimue and the leader of the contingent of Others declared at the same time.

Both women looked at each other startled, even as Ganos Lal giggled. She stopped though when they turned exasperated looks at her, instead just smiling mischievously back at them.

"Take them away," Melia said after sighing at the antics of her fellow Ascended. "And don't forget the others on the Chiropteran ships in orbit. With your permission of course, Chevalier."

"Go ahead," Commander Marc said with a nod.

At that Melia's subordinates disappeared in pillars of golden light, taking their prisoners with them. She lingered however and turned to face Dr. Weir.

"Your Expedition has done brilliantly. We are honoured for you to inherit our City."

With those parting words, she too became a pillar of light and vanished.

"Ganos?" Nimue said suddenly, turning towards her wife.

"Yes?" Ganos blinked, surprised by the sudden attention.

"Show me around," the Albionian Mother Empress said with a smile. "This is your old home, isn't it? I'd like to have a tour."

"Of course, my love." The Lantean said with a smile, before turning to Dr. Weir. "With your permission of course, Dr. Weir."

"Of course," Weir said with a surprised nod. "Feel free. Lt. Tan, would you and your team please provide security?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Then let's go!" Nimue said with enthusiasm as she dragged her wife across the deck of Stargate Operations. Terence, Yod and Wrex following hastily in their wake, while Larry rushed off to the armory to pick up their equipment. With his mokeskin pouch he was the only one capable of carrying it all.

"Looks like our lazy day just got busy." Yod whined.

"Don't complain," Wrex told him. "It's not like you had anything good planned anyway. At least this way you won't be bored."

"Yeah, I guess."

* * *

A couple hours later, Terence and his team were all wishing they were having a boring day instead. That would be infinitely preferable to their current predicament of standing rather uncomfortably at the bottom of a set of stairs that led to the roof of a tower that according to Ganos Lal she used to stay in.

"How long have they been at it?" Yod asked with a leer.

"Three hours," Larry said with a disbelieving shake of his head as a high pitched cry of pleasure echoed down the stairs. "Their stamina is incredible."

"Maybe it's because they're Ascended Beings?" Wrex suggested.

"Can it," Terence said with a sigh. "And yes Wrex, I think you have the right of it."

"Think we'll need to be here all night? I'm betting they could manage it."

"No need for that, Yod." Terence informed his team to varying signs of relief. "I radioed in for a replacement a while back. Dr. Weir said she'd send up an Albionian team in an hour or so if they're still not done by then."

"Thank the Ancestors."

"Um, Wrex, not to be a party pooper or anything but one of those Ancestors is the reason we're stuck here."

"I know, Larry." Wrex said with a pained look. "Trust me, I know."

Their conversation was interrupted by a _very _loud cry of ecstasy.

"This is _still _better than the shenanigans AR-1 goes through." Yod said with a shake of her head. "We didn't get turned into some partially Ascended Being by a wonky device and end up almost dying."

"Or end up manipulating two countries into a war while playing what they thought was a game?" Larry asked with some distaste.

"That too," Yod snickered at the reminder.

Another very feminine cry of ecstasy echoed down the stairs.

"The Albionians better get here soon." Terence said with a wince.

"Amen, Major. Amen."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done!
> 
> Hope you guys like my little subversion of The Return arc from canon. Oh, and the cameo by Nimue and Ganos too. I personally enjoyed it quite a bit.
> 
> Now, some might find the heavy handedness Melia and the Others had towards the Tria's crew a little excessive. If that's the case then just take a look at canon and see how draconian the Others can be. When they want something done, they can be downright cruel. Genocidally so.
> 
> Alright. That's it for me this chapter. Till next time soraidh!


	25. Raising Tensions - Raid on Asuras

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of the IPs from which any imported elements may originate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Pegasus War**

**Chapter Twenty Five: Raising Tensions - Raid on Asuras**

**Beta: **

* * *

It was a stormy day on _Atlantis _and much of its residents had taken shelter indoors. To this end, AR-15 and AR-1 had been no exception as they opted to enjoy their day off together with a friendly basketball matches in one of the gymnasiums that had been set up in the city. Their game had just ended with a narrow victory for AR-1 - damn Ronon and his insane athleticism! - and the eight Expedition members were now chilling in the stands and swapping stories about their recent missions.

"Colonel Sheppard, pardon me for saying this but you're a bloody madman ya know that!?" Yod said with a look of exaggerated seriousness. "Riding a moonbase and then a space shuttle without any fuel through a planet's atmosphere? That's insane!"

Dr. McKay nodding along in agreement didn't help the embarrassed look that spread on the Colonel's face.

"I did it to save Teyla," he said evasively. "Are you telling me you wouldn't do the same for anyone on your team?"

"Of course we would." Terence cut in before Yod could say something to blow things out of proportion again. "Just saying it was a crazy stunt is all."

"I do believe Colonel Sheppard makes it a point to pull crazy stunts all the time." Larry commented with a grin.

"He's not the only one," Wrex commented. "Or did you forget how Terence ran halfway across the city to get the Workers manning the Hive's beaming array recalibrated to transport that damned explosive tumor into orbit before it went off while Dr. Carson was operating on Dr. Watson?"

"Or how he literally kidnapped Dr. Radek to help tune the array." Yod added.

"Practically carried the poor doctor all the way there too." Larry chimed in with a smirk.

"You guys make it sound like I was some hero." Terence said with a grimace. "I was just doing my job."

"And you did a great one that day, Major." Sheppard said smacking the younger soldier on the shoulder.

"Thanks sir, I appreciate you saying that."

"Just speaking the truth here."

"I agree with Colonel Sheppard," Teyla said. "If you hadn't-"

A dark look spread across the Athosian's face as she probably remembered the destructive power of the tumors. She had, rather unfortunately, first hand experience from being caught right next to ground zero in one such blast when her friend Dr. Hewston's tumor detonated.

"Teyla, you okay?" Sheppard asked his teammate, concerned.

"I'm fine John." Teyla reassured him.

"If you're sure."

"I am."

Sheppard didn't look fully convinced but accepted her at her word. Besides, Teyla was close friends with , the Expedition's resident psychologist. If she needed help, she'd probably already be getting it.

"_All senior staff report to Stargate Operations for an emergency conference."_ Dr. Weir's voice came from the many speakers hidden throughout the city. "_I repeat, all senior staff report to Stargate Operations."_

"That's us," Sheppard said as he stood. "We'll catch up with you guys later."

"See you," Terence said as his team likewise said their goodbyes to their friends.

"Wonder what it is this time," Yod said curiously.

"Whatever it is, let's just hope it's not another disaster we need to avert."

"Amen, Major. Amen."

* * *

While AR-1 made their way up to Stargate Operations, Yuki sat impatiently in its conference room waiting for them, the last of the Expedition Senior Staff, to arrive. Thankfully, they did not take long to trickle in while amicably chatting away.

"I hope you guys had a good game," Dr. Weir greeted them with a smile.

"It was fun," Sheppard agreed. "AR-15 was a lot more of a challenge than I'd have thought."

Dr. McKay just snorted as they took their seats.

"I see." Dr. Weir said with an amused smile. "Since everyone is here, let's begin shall we? Yuki, if you please."

A wary look from Ronon and Teyla let her now they'd already guessed she was delivering bad news. Dr. Gardner biting her lip nervously and Dr. McKay's frown just made it worse.

_Have I gained a reputation for being the bearer of bad news?_

_I'm afraid so, sister. _Marc sent her apologetically. _You haven't exactly been a fount of good news lately._

Wincing internally at that sadly accurate observation, Yuki ploughed ahead nevertheless.

"I'm afraid that as usual I bring grim tidings. Our long range sensors have detected that the Asurans are amassing a massive armada around Asuras."

"How massive?" Major Sheppard asked with a frown.

"At least three hundred _Aurora_s and almost a thousand cruisers."

This was met with stunned silence from the whole room. That was the largest concentration of enemy forces the Expedition had thus far encountered.

"It sadly gets worse," Yuki continued. "Intelligence suggests they're preparing to launch it at Earth."

"Do we have a plan?" Sheppard asked, his frown deepening. "The Asuran garrison defending their homeworld is insane. Even with the full Expedition fleet we'd not likely have a chance against it. And that's not counting this new armada."

"Of course I do," Marc said with a smirk.

"But I don't think you'll like it though." Yuki said with a frown of her own.

* * *

A week later found AR-15 on board the Chiropteran battleship _Musashi _as it sailed through hyperspace in command of a large Expedition Fleet task force and alongside a contingent of unlikely allies en route to the Replicator homeworld of Asuras. They were due to drop back into normal space shortly, so they, Ronon, and the VIPs they were escorting - Dr. McKay and his pet Replicator F.R.A.N. - on the upcoming mission were in the impromptu ready rooms the Chiropterans had set up for them going over the plan one last time.

"Alright, in summary," Terence said as the briefing wound down. "Once the allied fleet drops out of hyperspace, we'll be beamed down to the room containing the Asuran data core where if all goes well, we won't be meeting any resistance."

Ignoring Dr. McKay's skeptical snort, Terence continued.

"With Ronon's help we'll secure the room while Dr. McKay and F.R.A.N.-"

At mentioning her, Terence indicated towards the peppy looking, long haired brunette Replicator seated next to Dr. McKay.

"-will get started on downloading the database into her data cores whilst simultaneously leaving as much damaging malware behind in the Asuran systems as they can. Once they're done, we'll beam out and head home while the Fleet blows the planet up. Any questions?"

"I've got one boss. First working with Wraith? Now a Replicator? I don't like this boss." Yod said gesturing first out a viewscreen pretending to be an observation window by projecting a view from one of the _Musashi_'s exterior cameras that showed a Wraith Hive ship cruising alongside them in hyperspace and then towards F.R.A.N.

"I agree with him," Ronon said with a growl.

"I thought you trusted Sheppard's judgement that Todd was being genuine in wanting to help us?" Dr. McKay asked his teammate.

"Help himself you mean," Ronon clarified. "He wants that Replicator armada destroyed as much as we do. It's just as much a threat to him as it is to us."

"You're not the only ones worried." Terence cut in with a frown. "But orders are orders. Besides we need his ships. Without them we wouldn't have enough to even attempt this mission."

This statement was met with disgruntled agreement from the humans present. F.R.A.N. for her part just blinked in confusion before turning to Dr. McKay questioningly, prompting the good doctor to attempt to explain things to her.

"Personally, I'm most unnerved that the Replicator over there is treating Dr. McKay like her father of all things." Wrex confessed as they watched the two interact.

"I don't see what the problem with that." Larry countered. "He _is _her creator."

"You've got a point there, Larry." Terence agreed.

* * *

Shortly after the ground team finished their final briefing, the allied fleet dropped out of hyperspace at the edge of the Asuran system.

"That's impressive," Marc couldn't help himself from saying as he noted the system's formidable defenses firsthand.

Orbiting every major celestial body in the system was at least two Lantean Defense Satellites with at least two dozen of them located at the Lagrangian points between Asuras and its moons alone. These were supplemented by hundreds of smaller miniaturized versions of their larger counterparts armed with plasma repeaters or a small cache of drones located either in clusters around the latter or in the case of Asuras itself in a net over the planet. And topping it all off was the armada that was the Expedition's target.

_Chevalier, permission to deploy the virus?_

_Hit them with it. _Marc ordered, even as he watched apprehensively as the armada began moving towards his forces in an intercept course.

At his command, the computer virus specially developed by the Cylons to disrupt the subspace network that linked not just individual Asurans but also much of their technology together was broadcasted over a broad spectrum. Much to Marc's relief, the effect was almost immediate. They'd barely begun transmitting when the Asuran forces moving into defensive postures suddenly froze.

_Are all targets marked?_

_Affirmative, Chevalier. All missiles report readiness as well._

_Then jump us into range and launch!_

Capitalizing on the paralysis gripping the defenders, the allied fleet executed a short hyperspace hop and skipped past the entirety of the outer defenses of the Asuran system to emerge directly over Asuras itself. At which point, the various Ha'taks in the fleets unloaded a salvo of worldbreaker missiles. It had taken quite some political wrangling on Yuki and Dr. Weir's parts to get them access to the WMDs but after considerable hard work they'd managed to get the Coalition to temporarily waive the limits on their use and allow their deployment for this one operation.

Unable to even respond due to the Cylon virus, the Asuran were helpless as their armada and much of their homeworld's defensive network was completely consumed by the massive explosions the Goa'uld superweapons unleashed.

_Alright, beam down the ground team._

_Ground team is away. Wraith Dart launches detected from allied ships._

_That wasn't part of the plan! What the hell are they do-_

_Alert! _The Fleetmind cut in urgently. _Hyperspace window detected. Asuran vessels detected!_

_Defensive formation! _Marc ordered as he saw the small but still respectable Asuran fleet angling towards them as they hung over their homeworld. _Are we still broadcasting the virus?_

_Affirmative. Cylon experts are hypothesizing incoming Asurans have thrown up protections._

_Of course they have. _Marc thought to himself with a frown. _Damn these Asurans and their adaptability. _

_Alright, we planned for this possibility. We just need to hold out until the ground team is done then we can blow up this planet and leave._

_Affirmative. _The Fleetmind sent back, its mental voice tinged with skepticism and worry.

* * *

With a familiar burst of light and a chime, AR-15 and its additions for the mission beamed down into the room containing the central data core of Asuras. It was a large room with a high ceiling that was dominated by a large bank of computers at its very centre and which like planned was empty.

"Spread out and secure the place!" Terence ordered immediately. "Dr. McKay, F.R.A.N. get to work."

"On it!" The scientist said as he and his robotic daughter rushed over to the bank of computers and got started on their part of the mission.

"Major, where should we go?" One of the two Bolus units, now in possession of Cylon centurion cyberbrains to replace its processors, asked.

The two were last minute additions hoisted on them by the Cylons. Terence had wanted to protest. They had been provided literally seconds before they were beamed down, but he hadn't. With their shields and Rotary Staff Cannons, this newly upgraded Cylon versions of the ST Technologies drones simply offered too much of an increase to his team's firepower to leave behind.

Even if they caused problems now, like not knowing what to do.

"Hang back for now and keep up the anti-beaming field." Terence ordered. "Reinforce whoever needs the most help once the fighting starts."

"Affirmative." Both machine intelligences replied in eerie sync.

Shaking off his unease, Terence rushed over to the nearest entrance at the mouth of which Larry had conjured a small blockhourse. He'd done one for both entrances to the room, just like planned.

As he settled in next to Wrex and Larry, Terence frowned at the pair of frozen Asuran guards standing just outside the door.

"I know I shouldn't, but my trigger finger is feeling really itchy right now." Wrex admitted.

"Well, it looks like you'll get a chance to flex it." Terence told him as he saw the shadows down the hall. Toggling his radio, he addressed the rest of his men. "Look sharp guys, incoming!"

"Contact!" Ronon shouted, forgoing his radio entirely and shooting a shot from his particle magnum down the corridor he and Yod were guarding.

"The others aren't moving," Larry observed as Asurans began running towards their position, firing their particle pistols as they did and being mowed down by return fire from the three of them sharing the small pillbox. "How are _they _moving?"

"I dunno." Terence admitted. "But if I'd have to guess these guys aren't from around here. Probably transported down from an unaffected fleet that jumped into the system."

"_That appears likely, Major." _One of the Bolus informed them over the radio. "_Our forces in orbit are being engaged by the enemy."_

"Dr. McKay, did you hear that!?"

"I did!" The scientist shouted back, both verbally and over the radio. "We're working as fast as we can."

Gritting his teeth at the situation, Terence tossed his annoyance aside and focused on the fighting. The stream of Asurans rushing them was unending however and despite his best attempts as the minutes dragged on he was starting to get worried. He was thus about to snap at Dr. McKay for an update when Yod cut him off.

"_Hey Larry, these pillboxes of yours are a lot more durable than your previous ones," _Yod commented. "_You do something different?"_

"I added in some Trinium plates embedded into the concrete. It adds to the durability quite a bit but makes it costs a lot more magic and fades a lot faster."

"How much faster?" Wrex asked with a worried frown.

"Not enough to make it matter unless we get caught in a protracted engagement."

_Let's hope this doesn't become one of those._

"Dr. McKay sitrep?" Terence asked as calmly as he could through the radio, even as he disintegrated yet another Asuran with his SPAR 21's keron disruptor attachment.

"We're working as fast as we can!" The doctor replied sounding deeply vexed. "I'll let you know when we're done! Now let me work damnit!"

Fighting the urge to snap back, Terence took a breath and got back to shooting Asurans. It wasn't as satisfying but it was good enough.

* * *

_Alert! New Asuran reinforcements!_

_They keep coming. _Marc thought to himself with a frown as he frantically gave mental commands for the _Musashi _to relay to the fleet to shrink their formation and which ships to rotate in to recharge their shields.

For the last fifteen minutes, Asuran reinforcements had been jumping into the system in an endless tide. The first few flotillas were easy to repulse but the recent ones less so. Not only were his ships increasingly getting worn down through attrition but the Replicators were also massing their ships in larger numbers before jumping in and he was increasingly hard pressed to match them. In the beginning, they'd been enjoying numerical superiority in the range of 5 to 1 in their favour but as the Asurans grew in number from the unending waves of reinforcements that had turned completely upside down.

_Chevalier, the Wraith Commander 'Todd' is recommending a retreat._

Marc hated to take advice from a Wraith, but as things stood the damnable lifesucker was right. With the odds now roughly 3 to 1 in favour of the Asurans, they were about to be overwhelmed.

_Beam up the ground team now. Once they're aboard break orbit and begin retreating to outside the enemy interdiction field._

_Ground team is aboard. _The Fleetmind reported a moment later. _Breaking orbit._

Marc nodded absently as he focused on the tactical situation instead. Much to his relief, except for a handful of likely overeager captains, the Asurans weren't pursuing. Instead, they seemed intent on forming up in a defensive screen between his fleeing ships and their homeworld.

_They probably predicted our next move then. Well, let's see if we can get some good out of it anyways. _Marc mused before turning his attention to the Fleetmind and issuing his orders. _Relay to missile ships: Fire worldbreaker salvo!_

Ignoring the Fleetmind's affirmative, Marc watched through the _Musashi_'s sensors as the last of the deadly missiles the task force carried shot out of their launch tubes and flew directly at the wall of Asuran ships between them and Asuras. Most of the missiles were shot down but a trio of them made it through the Asuran point defense to detonate in the heart of their formation. In three powerful explosions, two thirds of the Replicator ships burned.

Briefly Marc considered turning around and finishing the survivors off but a new hyperspace window opening at the edge of his interdiction fields behind the battered Asuran fleet and disgorging yet another wave of their reinforcements dissuaded him. Instead, he watched them carefully for any indication of possible pursuit. There were none. The Replicators were more intent on setting up a defense against another possible worldbreaker salvo.

_Free of enemy interdiction field._

_Then jump to the rendezvous coordinates!_

* * *

_So they didn't show after all? _Marc queried the Pilot of the _Résurrection_-class frigate, _Nomikomu_, that he'd sent back to the first rendezvous point to wait for their Wraith allies.

The whole allied fleet had originally been supposed to meet up in the same location after the outcome of the mission but when the Wraith had not shown up after ten minutes, Marc had ordered the Expedition ships to jump to another location just in case. He'd then sent the _Nomikomu _back to see if the Wraith had just been late for some reason unlikely as that might be.

_Negative, Chevalier. There were no signs of our Wraith allies._

_As expected I suppose, _Marc mused. _With the Asuran armada dealt with, the reason for our little alliance of convenience is over. It's no surprise they didn't stay._

_It is as you say, Chevalier. _

_Thank you, _Nomikomu_, return to formation. We'll be heading back to liberated space shortly._

_As you command._

Pulling his mind away from the frigate's Pilot, Marc instead turned his attention to assessing the mission's outcome.

_Yes, we've destroyed the Asuran armada threatening Earth and much of the Asuran fleet besides but we only managed to download 20% of the Asuran database before we were forced to pull out. Add to that the loss of over thirty capital ships and heavy damage to at least forty more and I can't really say this mission was a success._

And that wasn't even counting what terror they'd unwittingly unleashed upon the galaxy by facilitating the Wraith theft of whatever they'd been after whilst they'd been in Asuras orbit. Whatever they'd taken, Marc had a bad feeling about it. A very bad feeling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done!
> 
> Not too happy with this chapter to be honest but I can't quite pin down why. Hopefully it's still passably enjoyable though.
> 
> Till next time veda!


	26. Raising Tensions - Meeting the Travelers

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of the IPs from which any imported elements may originate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Pegasus War**

**Chapter Twenty Six: Raising Tensions - Meeting the Travelers**

**Beta: **

* * *

It was a bright sunny day as the seasons transited from summer to autumn in the Lacuan settlement, New Lacus, on the Lantean mainland and its people were holding a festival celebrating the recent successful harvest. As friends of the community, Terence and his team had been naturally invited to join in on the day of dancing and free flow of drinks.

Having had their fair share of dancing for now, Terence and Yelana moved off to join the rest of the team where they sat drinking the much loved Lacuan ale.

"So everyone," Yelana said with a smile as Terence helped her into a seat. "Did anything happen to Major Sheppard and his team lately?"

According to the rumor mill, the poor head of the Atlanteans' AR teams was always getting him and his team caught up in the craziest situations. Telling the stories of his latest exploits as she heard them from her brother and betrothed had earned Yelana quite a bit of money in the Crossroads Tavern where she worked. Thus she was ever eager to hear more of this antics.

"Most definitely," Wrex informed his sister. "They ended up captured by the Wraith _again _when some of Ronon's old Satedan friends turned out to be working with them."

"And they were rescued?"

"Of course," Terence told her with a reassuring smile. "We never leave a man behind."

"Just wish Sheppard had the good sense to leave some of the things he finds offworld behind."

_They have moved on to another adventure it seemed, _Yelana thought squashing the pout she'd almost let show on her face. _I'll need to remember to ask Wrex about it later. I'm sure that story about AR-1's latest capture by the Wraith will be worth a healthy amount of money._

"Yeah, that crystalline entity thing was a pain." Yod agreed.

"Terrifying." Larry countered. "The dreams it created… Ugh! I don't even want to be reminded of it."

"Didn't that kill one woman?" Yelana asked with a frown.

"Yeah, poor Dr. Heightmeyer." Terence said with a shake of his head. "That Kirsan Fever plague was scarier though. It killed loads more people."

Yelana had heard about that already, having been one of the locals who had volunteered to tend to the sick Atlanteans while the handful of those still well, the Jaffa and Chiropterans, scrambled to find a cure. It wasn't easy as most of the Expedition's medical staff had come down with the sickness but as always the resilient Atlanteans had managed.

"Yeah," Yod agreed. "That was just the worse."

"At least we weren't like Dr. McKay, whose sister got kidnapped and injected with killer nanites."

"Trust AR-1 to get into crazy stuff," Yelana said with a laugh.

"Yeah~!" Terence agreed with a laugh of his own.

"It's not all bad news though," Larry chimed in. "Apparently Teyla is pregnant."

"Oh really? Who's the father?" Yelana asked excitedly.

"One of her childhood friends, Kanaan." Yod told her and chuckling at the young woman's disappointed pout. "You were expecting Colonel Sheppard or Ronon, weren't you?"

"I did not," Yelana said defensively.

"Sure you didn't," the joker of the team said with a teasing grin.

Terence, the gentleman that he was, was about to step in to help when his radio crackled to life.

"_This is _Atlantis _to all personnel. We're going to Yellow Alert. I repeat we're going to Yellow Alert."_ The familiar voice of Dr. Grodin said over the device.

"What was that about?" Yod asked worriedly.

"I don't know," Terence said with a frown. "But I'm going to find out."

* * *

Several minutes before the alert was sounded at the very edge of liberated space, the _Graystone _moved gracefully through the void in orbit over the recently liberated world known only as M6R-867 - the disparate local tribes having failed to settle on a name yet - as it deployed the satellites that would make up the world's orbital defense grid. Around it flew a small flotilla of ships from the Expedition Fleet providing escort. Though considering the lack of anything on their long range sensors except a bunch of unidentified ships that they'd tagged as possible friendlies being anywhere even close to their position that escort seemed superfluous.

_Just as superfluous as me being on duty during such a routine job. _Aris thought to herself with a sigh as she manned the Factoryship's bridge. _Even if this is _technically _a combat operation, I should be able allowed to leave something this boring to Daniel to handle on his own!_

Thankfully as a Cylon she was able to entertain herself even in the most boring of circumstances. Using her kind's unique augmented reality ability they called Projection, she'd been spending the past hour reading news feeds back from the Milky Way in the form of a magazine.

And wasn't it full of good news!

Latest reports were that the Goa'uld Remnant had finally been driven out of the Cyrannus star system. Its occupation of the Colonies was brutal but hopefully with them gone, the Colonials would get a chance to recover.

"Aris!" Daniel shouted, pulling her from her thoughts.

"What is it?" The Eight replied, coming to attention immediately.

"Those unidentified ships just exited hyperspace in the system and are vectoring towards us."

Plunging her hands into the nearest interface terminal, Aris 'saw' through the _Graystone_'s sensors as a battered fleet of ships each roughly the size of a Tau'ri _Daedalus_-class battlecruiser with a mostly flat relatively symmetrical design, with a raised area near the rear of the vessel and two prominent sublight engines mounted on the rear instead of being built into the vessel as they are on most ships limped towards them from the edge of their hyperspace interdiction field.

_Hail them,_ Aris ordered.

As the highest ranking Fleet officer in the system, she was the de facto commander of all Expedition forces in the theatre. Thus the duty of establishing first contact with these unknowns fell to her.

It didn't take long for the unknowns to accept the comm link and as they did a disheveled looking brunette standing in a bridge bearing the telltale marks of recent damage and long use appeared in her mind's eye.

_Unknown vessels. Stop your advance and identify yourselves immediately. You are entering space controlled by the Atlantis Expedition. Failure to comply will result in us opening fire. _Aris thought leaving it to the _Graystone_'s comms systems to render her words into something intelligible for the unknowns.

Almost immediately the fleet of unknowns came to a full stop, even as their representative replied.

"_My name is Larrin, leader of the last surviving Travellers and I request asylum with the Atlanteans for my people." _

_Why?_

The woman looked angry for a moment, but quickly pushed past the emotion and through gritted teeth replied.

"_For generations, my people have had been able to escape being culled by the Wraith or being destroyed by the Asurans by hiding aboard our generational ships and by never staying in one place. But mostly this was due to the stalemate in the war between the Asurans and the Wraith which lasted for centuries and the relative stability it brought. However, since your Expedition arrived in this galaxy you have upset everything and the war has escalated to heights we have never seen before. As a result, my people have increasingly been caught in the crossfire."_

_And you seek asylum with us? The ones you hold responsible for your people's demise?_

"_We have no other choice."_ Larrin spat.

_There is always a choice._

"_What to become livestock for the Wraith in their farms or the pawns of the Asurans? No, as much as it pains me to have to rely on the likes of you after what your reckless actions have cost my people, you lot are the only real option we have to survive."_

Aris winced. She'd overstepped there.

"_Look if you're not willing to accept us out of the goodness of your bleeding hearts then how about we make a deal?"_ Larrin offered. "_I'm willing to offer intelligence to you that you will likely greatly appreciate."_

_What do you mean? _Aris asked, even as she could sense Daniel's disapproval.

"_Shortly before you arrived in the galaxy we stumbled across a dormant and abandoned Ancient _Aurora_-class battleship drifting in deep space. We had hoped to bring it back online and add it to our fleet, but we didn't manage it before the war got out of hand. It has since fallen into the hands of the Wraith. In exchange for accepting our request for asylum, I'm willing to offer you the ship's location."_

* * *

Days after the Travellers' arrival, Xinyue and his recently topped up squadron of Tierens were thick in the strike craft scrum around the Travelers' _Aurora. _The ship had been right where the Travelers had said it was, the Wraith having apparently not even bothered to tow the ship somewhere else since seizing it.

They did however bother to leave small fleet consisting of a single Hive ship and a trio of cruisers to defend the disabled Ancient ship however, but that was handily being dealt with by the Expedition Fleet force tasked with retrieving the vessel. An effort that Xinyue and his men were assisting with by dealing with the Wraith's mecha. A task he very much enjoyed.

He'd already taken out four Hunters and almost two dozen Darts, when his current opponent had shot out of the Wraith fighter swarm to engage him. He did so love dueling with Enforcers. Of all the Wraith strike craft, they were the only ones he felt really posed a challenge.

That said, he'd fought enough of them by now to know that getting close was his best option, thus as soon as the duel had begun he'd gunned his machine at the surprised Wraith and entered into close combat with his heat blade. Not to be so easily bested, the Wraith had revealed that its machine sported a retractable chitinous blade built into the wrist of its left arm that it had used to fend him off.

Ever since the two had been dancing around each other, exchanging the occasional shots when the distance allowed as they repeatedly closed with each other to lock blades.

_This is not working. _Xinyue noted after the fifth time his blade clashed with the Enforcer's. _Time to try something new._

Pulling his machine away, the Jade pilot fired a burst from his gun at the enemy that was returned in kind. This time it was the enemy that closed first, it's wrist blade coming down in an overhead slash. Parrying the blade as widely as possible, Xinyue managed to force enough of an opening in his opponent's guard for him to shove his gun flush against its torso whereupon he pulled the trigger without hesitation. A burst of plasma bolts shot forth from the muzzle of his gun and finally tore the Wraith biomecha apart.

Satisfied, Xinyue flew away from the rapidly spreading cloud of viscera and wreckage.

Quickly checking on his squadron he was pleased to note that they were doing well. Even the rookies. Some of them were sporting some injuries but nothing crippling.

Breathing a sigh of relief, he charged back into the fray by vectoring towards a pair of Hunters

* * *

Even as the battle outside the _Aurora _raged, another fierce fight raged within its halls as Terence, AR-15 and a force of Power Armored Albionian marines were aboard the ship of the hour trying to liberate it from the Wraith who were occupying the inactive vessel and attempting to reverse engineer its technology. That was something the Expedition could not allow to happen. The Wraith were incredibly powerful as is, who knew how much more dangerous they could be if allowed to acquire even some of the advanced Lantean technology.

"_Sir, the last of the charges are set." _The Second Prime in command of the Albionians that were backing up his team in this mission informed Terence.

"Good." Terence replied even as he gunned down a trio of Wraith Drones trying to rush the pillbox Larry had conjured for him and Wrex to hold down one of the corridors leading into the ship's bridge. "But remember those are only for the worst case scenario. We want to recover this ship intact for the Travellers if at all possible."

"_Understood, sir."_ The Jaffa said amicably despite what must have been the umpteenth reminder of that detail. "_Should I reassign my demolition teams to scouring the ship for Wraith?"_

"Their escorts yes, but have the rest guard the charges. We don't want the Wraith disarming them if we need to use them."

"_Understood, Dol'nuk out."_

"That was surprisingly polite." Wrex commented as he took out a Wraith commander trying to flee after he and Terence killed his cohort of Drones. "Most Jaffa tend towards being somewhat uncouth."

"Well, the Albionians are a little different. More professional." Terence commented.

"True," Wrex agreed, before changing the subject. "So how many more Wraith are there on the ship? I'm counting at least thirty dead Wraith in this corridor alone."

"Scans when we boarded said at least a few hundred. They've made themselves very comfortable here." Terence reminded him, gesturing at the organic material that coated the _Aurora_'s walls in imitation of the interior of a Wraith ship or structure.

"Then we're going to be here a while, aren't we?"

"Probably."

"Stuck in a pillbox shooting idiots trying to rush an entrenched position using infantry wave tactics. Just brilliant."

"I see you've been reading those books on military strategy I lent you."

"You _were _the one to tell me to broaden my horizons."

"I did." Terence agreed. "Talk about this later. Contact!"

* * *

A week later, Kevan Solos, Captain of the Lacuan Militia stood alongside a number of leaders of the various peoples that the Atlanteans had liberated as the Travelers ships, including their newly recovered _Aurora_, landed on the shipyards that had been built on the Lantean mainland especially for them by the Chiropterans and their legions of Workers to allow the ramshackle vessels the time in drydock they desperately needed.

"Quite a sight, huh?" Beloukas said from where he stood to Kevan's right. "Inspiring isn't it?"

"Indeed," Kevan said with a nod. "A fleet crewed entirely by Pegasus natives."

"It gives you ideas?"

"Indeed." The blonde said with a gleam in his eyes. "Perhaps there is something more that we can do to help the Expedition in our liberation after all."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done!
> 
> This chapter ended up being surprisingly short. I suppose I could bulk it with more scenes of the battle around the Traveler's Aurora but frankly I think I've had too many battles involving the Wraith both spatial and infantry battles so I didn't want to. Hope that's not a problem.
> 
> More important, in my opinion, than the recovery of the Traveler's Aurora is the idea that spawned in Kevan's head at the end there. Anyone want to guess what it is? It shouldn't be too hard. Well, if you are interested in making a guess, drop it in a review.
> 
> That's it from me for now. Till next time piriyāviṭai!


	27. Raising Tensions - The Expedition Native Corps

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of the IPs from which any imported elements may originate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Pegasus War**

**Chapter Twenty Seven: Raising Tensions - The Expedition Native Corps**

**Beta: **

* * *

**Trigger warning: Dehumanization, Humans as livestock**

"As discussed," Kevan Solos said as he handed over the document he'd come to _Atlantis _to deliver to Dr. Weir. "Here is our formal request to the Expedition to reorganize elements of our existing militias into a proper army so that we may better support the Expedition's efforts. It's been signed by leaders of _all _the peoples the Expedition has liberated."

"I'm surprised that you managed to get them all to agree," the leader of the Expedition as she stood up from behind her desk and received the document.

"It wasn't hard at all." Kevan said as they both retook their seats. "Not everyone might be willing to send their men and women to fight, and no one expects them to. But _everyone _wants to support the war effort. Besides, you underestimate just how much esteem the Expedition has with the people under its protection."

Dr. Weir just gave a polite smile, deflecting the praise as most Expedition members did when they received it. They really were too humble for their own good.

"I'll need to forward this back to the Coalition High Command back in the Milky Way," the stateswoman said instead. "But I don't expect any problems."

"Thank you for your time," Kevan said as he stood. "And for everything else as well."

"I'm just doing my duty, Captain." Dr. Weir said offering her hand.

Kevan just smiled as he shook her hand as was the Tau'ri custom before departing.

* * *

A few minutes later found Kevan waiting patiently in the queue for the transporter station to beam him back to New Lacus. While he knew that technically any of _Atlantis_' transporters could serve this function, the Expedition had wisely locked the systems and limited outbound and inbound transport to only a handful of stations at the periphery of the city where arrivals could be properly screened. A prudent security measure and one he expected from the capable Expedition leadership.

Not that his high opinion of the Expedition personnel extended to _everyone_. A fact exemplified by what he was overhearing from a pair of Tau'ri scientists as they walked passed.

"Seriously they're suggesting it be called the Expedition Native Corps?" A woman with her hair dyed purple of all things said with a scandalized look.

"I know right," a woman with equally peculiar blue hair said with a shake of her head. "It's like that don't even understand how colonialist that sounds!"

"I don't really see what's the problem." Their third companion, a woman who by the patch on her Expedition jacket appeared to be from Albion, said while looking thoroughly confused.

"Neither do I," Kevan said as he stepped out of the queue to confront them. "Perhaps you could explain it to me and we could make a change?"

He doubted it. He'd had the misfortune to run into this type before. Whilst most Expedition members were happy to help the peoples as much as they could, some had come from their homeworlds with strange thoughts in mind. Some had come as missionaries for their faiths and ideologies, most of these Kevan actually didn't mind because they were not aggressive in their proselytization and paired it with providing services like healthcare and education to all. Some though like these two before him now, were of the worst sort, they came to aggressively preach their beliefs and would not accept 'no' for an answer.

Nevertheless, if they did see something wrong with his choice of name for the proposed native auxiliary force then he would hear them out. _If_, and it was a big if, there was merit to their point, there was still time to propose a change to it.

"You're Kevan Solos, aren't you?" Miss Blue Hair said. "The man pushing for this whole indigenous army thing?"

"I am _Captain _Solos, yes."

"Well, Captain Solos, we'd be happy to tell you why your whole idea is flawed." Miss Purple Hair chimed in. "That is if you're ready to listen."

"I'm, as your people say, all ears."

The Albionian friend of the two women with the strange choices in hair color winced at that and Kevan had a suspicion he'd share her feelings on the matter by the end of it. However, he wasn't about to back down now so he just grit his teeth and prepared himself.

"First off, your choice of name, heck the whole idea, is demeaning!" Miss Purple Hair said with an exaggerated sigh. "It sounds too much like the names old imperialists back on Earth used to give to the units of collaborators they mustered from the natives of the lands they colonized. And that's exactly what you're forming aren't you? A collaborationist colonial army?"

"That thinking applied to Earth." Kevan replied with a frown. "And perhaps in the historical context of your homeworld such names and armies _might _be considered offensive, though I do not see how something purely descriptive and practical could be such. However, this is not Earth."

"Which is why you shouldn't make the same mistake that was made on Earth." Miss Blue Hair pressed.

"And you should not import Earth's historical baggage to the Pegasus either." Kevan countered his eyes narrowing in anger. "Me and my men _chose _that name. We _want _to fight alongside our friends in the Expedition. And we are proud of those choices, the name especially as it fully encapsulated what we want to be: Pegasus natives fighting with our allies in the Expedition to liberate our home. Both of which were things we find great honor in."

Both Tau'ri women rolled their eyes.

"I knew that talking to you is pointless." Miss Purple Hair said as she walked. "You're too uneducated to even see how you're being oppressed."

"It's sad," Miss Blue Hair said in agreement as she too began walking away. "If we had the time we _might _consider educating you on all the ways your thinking is wrong, but we have a shift to get to."

Kevan watched the two insufferable women disappear around a corner, glaring at them all the while.

"Sorry about them." Their Albionian friend said for them, bowing deeply to him. "They just, uh, believe very strongly in their opinions."

"I can see that," Kevan said, putting his hands on her shoulders and gently urging for her to stand up straight. "And please don't apologize for them. You did nothing wrong."

"Still they are my colleagues and it's only right that _someone _apologizes for their bad behavior. So once more, apologies Captain Solos."

_How polite. A pity her fri- No, she addressed them as colleagues, did she not? Then more's the pity. She's being saddled with working with such people._

"Apology accepted," Kevan said with a smile. "Now, don't you have a shift to report to."

"Oh yes! Thank you for your time, Captain Solos." The young Albionian woman said with a short bow of her head before she sprinted off.

Shaking his head at the energy of the young, Kevan moved to return to the line for the transporter only to be greeted by applause from the crowd.

* * *

A month later as Kevan sat in his office in New Lacus as he went over the list of equipment that had been made available to the Expedition Native Corps, of which he had been given command, he could only wish all he had to do was put a pair of young fools in their place. Sadly, his new responsibilities encompassed far more than that. He had to organise the volunteers from the existing local militias and their fresh recruits into proper military units _and _make sure that the new units would have the equipment they needed.

They would retain much of the small arms that the Expedition had provided them already for use in the militias. Some had argued they should upgrade to energy weapons from the firearms they were currently using, but considerations of the time required for retraining if that were the case and the availability of existing supply networks for their current guns overruled that. Still, the increased number of guns required was putting a strain on the gunsmiths. Thankfully though, volunteers were flocking to the workshops as well and it was expected that they would manage, if only just barely, to arm everyone by the time the first units were ready for service.

More worrying were the situation with the naval component of the Corps.

The shipyards constructed to repair the Traveller ships had been modified to build Tau'ri type ships, the most resource efficient ships in terms of cost versus firepower available of the designs open to the Expedition, for the Corps. In addition, the Chiropterans had also began construction of a factory to produce Jade Tieren Mobile Suits, again the most resource efficient design the Expedition had access to, for them as well.

However, here the problem was a matter of personnel. If the estimates were even somewhat accurate, and he had no reason to believe they wouldn't be, they would have their first ships and Mobile Suits before they had the crews and pilots to fly them. Said personnel were being given accelerated training that used nanite assisted learning derived from what was an Orbanian process called the Averium, but even then it was slow going.

The few ship crews that had finished their training had taken command of a number of Asuran ships that the Expedition had previously captured but were too few in number to operate these vessels with anything more than skeleton crews. Bolstered only somewhat by Travelers who though untrained in the operation of such ships at least had lived all their lives aboard ships and their systems. Nevertheless, short handed or not these ships could still fly and more importantly fight. Thus, against the advice of some of his Expedition advisors he'd ordered that they would join the _Orion_, the Taranian _Aurora_ and their newly assigned flagship, as part of the Corps' contingent of the Expedition Fleet.

_Everything is shaping up well. _Kevan thought to himself despite the difficulties. _Soon we'll truly be able to say we are fighting side by side with the Atlanteans._

* * *

Two months after the Corps' formation, Captain Sisenna Geta of the Native Corps' Sixth Battalion, Third Brigade, First Marine Division found himself and his men hidden in the forest of a world on the borders of Asuran space awaiting word from his scouts on the state of the planet's Replicator outpost and the target of their mission. "_Captain," _Sisenna's radio said as it crackled to life. "_We've finished our recon of the outpost."_

"Report," the muscular, dark skinned Taranian with close cropped hair said. "What are we dealing with here?"

"_Looks like the place is staffed mostly by Genii, sir." _The scout commander reported. "_There are a handful of Asurans acting as senior officers, but not many. At last count only six of them. Enemy count is at least a hundred on the outside, and sensors say at least thrice that inside the outpost itself barring those in areas shielded from our equipment."_

_That isn't bad odds. With the whole battalion here we have 800 men._

"Good job, lieutenant. You and your men stay there and keep an eye on the enemy. We'll adapt the battle plan based on your intel and get back to you before we attack. Until then hang tight."

"_Yes, sir. Lt. Derming out."_

"Sir, are we really going to engage?" Sisenna's second in command asked. "The Genii might be working with the Asurans but they're still humans. Is it right for us to fight, even kill them?"

"They forfeited the right to such concerns the moment they chose to collaborate with the Asurans." Sisenna told him. "Besides, people like them have been responsible for the death of countless of their fellow humans. They deserve what's coming to them."

The man still looked a little conflicted but nodded.

Satisfied that he had at least made peace with what they needed to do, Sisenna began issuing orders.

"Go get me the latest intel the scouts sent over." Sisenna told the man. "I need to see if the Asurans have updated their defense network and make changes to our battle plan accordingly."

"Yes sir!" The junior officer said as he snapped a quick salute before rushing off to get the data as requested.

Sisenna watched him go for a moment before turning to face the direction of the Asuran outpost.

_We're coming for you, you metal bastards. It's time for you to have a taste of human retribution._

* * *

"Sir! Captain Sisenna reports he's begun his attack."

"The Asuran _Aurora_?" Kevan asked as he digested what his comms officer reported.

"It's moving to provide ortillery support." His sensors officer replied. "No strike craft launches. Intel was right that they lack any."

_Fortunate, since we don't have any onboard to counter them if they did._

If they had, Kevan would likely have had to call a retreat.

_I must thank the Expedition Intelligence officers who pointed this planet out to me. They might have saved our lives._

Far from either front in the war, this backwater Asuran world had recently been stripped of much of its garrison. Including its strike craft detachments. All of which had been redeployed to bolster the Replicators' defense against a recent Wraith push against their holdings. It was scheduled for reinforcement but that wasn't due for another week. At least.

_Which is what makes it a perfect target for our little force._

The Corps was still somewhat lacking on the number of available Mobile Suit pilots at the moment, thus when planning this minor offensive for his forces to test their mettle Kevan had deployed the few Mobile Suit units he had available to targets where they'd likely to encounter similar opposition. This meant other groups, such as his, lacked their support altogether. The Expedition had offered to rectify this by seconding some of its Mobile Suit squads to him temporarily but he'd declined. This offensive was to test the Corps' ability to assist the Expedition, not the other way around.

_That said, I really should work on upping the number of Mobile Suits we have._

"Then drop our cloak and raise shields. Vector in to intercept that _Aurora_." Kevan ordered, setting his concerns aside for now.

At Kevan's command, the _Orion _decloaked and raised its shields before moving from its low orbit around the planet Captain Sisenna was assaulting which it had held since inserting the Sixth Battalion onto the surface. With its cloak down, the lone Asuran battleship tasked with garrisoning this world detected them immediately and abandoning its attempt to support its ground troops began vectoring towards them.

"Enemy Drone launch."

"Spread flak cloud and reply in kind!"

All around the _Orion_ bursts of micro projectiles exploded, enshrouding the Corps' flagship in a protective screen even as a stream of glowing yellow Ancient Drones shot from the ship towards a similar stream coming from its Asuran counterpart. Both sets of Drones reacted to each other by immediately hunting each other in a dance that would have reminded onlookers of a small cloud of fireflies, that is until they began catching each other and detonating in explosive mutual destruction.

"Entering particle beam range," Kevan's tactical officer reported.

"Then open fire!"

As both ships entered the ranges for their particle weapons they immediately opened fire, sending lances of exotic particles shooting across the void at each other and causing their respective opponents' shields to flare a brilliant white.

"Shield strength is at 87%. Enemy has a lock."

"Same as us then," Kevan noted with a frown. "Keep us moving. Try to shake their lock."

"Sir! Drone launch!"

"Counter it!"

Even as the two _Aurora_s tried to destroy each other with lances from their particle beams as they moved around each other trying to shake their opponent's weapons lock, both ships also launched another salvo of their bright yellow Drone weapons which once more found themselves destroying each other after a brief swirling dance.

"Shield strength?" Kevan asked, dreading the answer even as sparks form overloading power conduits told him much of what he needed to know.

"34%. Enemy strength estimated at 21%."

"We'll be cutting it close," Kevan's XO said with a grimace. "Maybe we should pull back a little and recharge before engaging again?"

"No, stay the course."

Heeding its captain's orders, the _Orion _fought on tenaciously. Continuing to circle around the enemy _Aurora _as it did much the same, the two battleships fired deadly particle beam after particle beam at each other slowly but surely whittling down their counterparts' shields. Twice more this exchange was joined by Drones and in a repeat of the first two occasions, they met the same mutual destructive end. The duel finally ended however when the Asuran ship's shields failed and a trio of the _Orion_'s beams pierced its hull.

The Replicator ship was dying as explosions consumed it, but even then it defiantly fired a last barrage of its own beams back at the _Orion _that punctured the Corps' flagship's weakened shields. Unlike the _Orion_'s own precisely aimed beams, this last gasp thankfully did not hit anything vital. It did however still manage to puncture a hole through the ship's starboard side and carve a gash along its port side.

"Damage report!"

"We have major hull breaches in at least a dozen sections." The engineering officer reported. "The computer has sealed the sections off. Damage control is responding, but I doubt they can do much. We'll need time in a drydock to fix that kind of damage."

Kevan nodded grimly and turned to his tactical officer.

"Are our weapons still online."

"We lost one of the Drone bays, but otherwise we're all green."

"Then contact Captain Sisenna." Kevan said with a slight grin. "And ask him if he needs some orbital fire support."

* * *

Second Lieutenant Valdon was a Belkan who had signed on to serve in the Expedition Native Corps and had the honour to have been selected to be trained as one its Mobile Suit pilots. Growing up on his relatively peaceful homeworld, the rather average young man with curly, brunette hair had never really thought about what he wanted to do with his life but the moment the recruitment call for the Corps had gone out to the liberated planets, Valdon had signed on immediately.

What better thing could a man in the Pegaus galaxy do then stand up and fight the Wraith and Asurans alongside the Atlanteans?

At least that's what he'd thought.

"I'm an idiot! Why did I sign up for this!?" Valdon cursed at himself as he struggled to control his Tieren as it hurtled through the atmosphere of the Wraith farm world that Second Marine Division was trying to liberate.

How had he ended up in this predicament? Well, just moments ago he'd been tangoing with a pair of Wraith Hunters and had managed to take them out, but not before one of them had managed to score a hit that practically scrapped his machine's propulsion engine. Since he was in a particularly low orbit by that point, that meant he'd ended up speeding through the atmosphere. Thankfully, his depleted shield had recharged some before he really started burning up. That meant, he'd likely survive this.

"Shit! Shit! I'm dead!" Valdon shouted as his machine finally crashed into the surface of the planet.

* * *

"_-you hear me? Hey! Pilot, can you hear me!?"_

"Urgh, yeah, I can hear you." Valdon muttered out as he shook himself out of unconsciousness. "What the hell happened?"

"_I was hoping you can tell me that. We saw you crash down from orbit and came to investigate."_ The voice on his Tieren's radio said, sounding worried. "_You sure you're okay?"_

"I'm sure," Valdon said as he got his bearings. "Tierens are rated for atmospheric reentry. They're built sturdy too. A crash like this is nothing."

That wasn't quite the truth. Just a quick glance at his readouts told him that his machine was in pretty bad shape. It's armor was a mess, its shield was depleted _again_, and its already damaged propulsion system was a write off.

_Guess I'll have to walk it then._

"Who are you guys anyways?" Valdon asked. "I'm Second Lieutenant Valdon of the Eighth Mobile Suit Team, Third Attack Wing."

"_Captain Morian of the Fifth Battalion, Second Marine Division." _The voice on the radio said, which Valdon now noted with a glance through his machine's viewscreen was actually a raven haired woman. A very muscular woman but a woman nonetheless.

He could tell that much even through the Albionian make Heavy Power Armor with its ovoid shaped torso, large missile pods on the shoulders, attached backpack and with various heavy plasma cannons mounted to either gauntlet that she wore. Though that was mainly due to the fact she'd flipped up the faceplate of the armor's broad round helmet.

"_You think you can get back into the sky?"_

"No, my flight systems are a goner. It can still walk though. You guys need some heavy support?"

"_I like how you think. Sure! We're glad to have your support, Iron Man."_

Valdon rolled his eyes, that barb at the name of his Mobile Suit had gotten old _real _fast.

"Any sign of Wraith air cover? I'm not exactly low profile."

"_No need to worry about that. The Wraith seem too preoccupied with the space battle to bother sending any flyers planetside. Haven't seen a single Dart much less a Mobile Suit since we hit dirt. You're safe."_

_I don't think that's possible on a Wraith planet._

"Okay, then let's move out. I don't think we want to stay in one place long, even if the Wraith don't have the air power to spare."

"_You're right. So here's the plan. There's a Wraith farm complex a couple klicks north of here," _Captain Morian said as Valdon's computers helpfully highlighted the target on his tactical map. "_We're gonna hit it. The place is protected by some turrets and at least a thousand Drones. Mind helping out with those?"_

"It'll be my honor."

"_Great. Then let's move out."_

With that they began their advance through the ruins of what had been a large city. Occasionally, a small Wraith group would try to intercept them but against a Tieren and a whole Marine battalion, the few dozen Drones that the Wraith sent against them each time were easily dealt with.

The real challenge came when they actually neared the massive organic buildings that were their targets. Looking like nothing more than a giant beached Hive ship, the farm building was incredibly intimidating. Made more so by the dozen plasma spewing turrets that protected it. Fortunately, but this time Valdon's shields had fully recharged themselves and running from the negligible cover of one ruined building to another, he blasted the turrets to pieces one by one allowing his shields to take what shots he couldn't dodge.

"Alright, that's the last turret silenced." Valdon said to himself in relief as he saw the thing explode. "Talk about cutting it close."

A quick glance at his shield strength told him he was down to a measly nine percent. Nine percent! With it so low, he felt like a breeze could knock it out completely.

"_Hey, big guy. Thanks for clearing the turrets but mind giving us a hand with this door? The techs are having trouble opening it up." _Captain Marion said over the radio.

_What a slave driver. _Valdon thought to himself with a break as he moved to help pry open the massive pair of doors to the Wraith facility. _Can't I take a breat-_

Valdon's complaints cut off as he finished forcing the door open and saw what lay beyond.

In the dimly lit interior common to all Wraith construction, were row upon unending row of cages. Inside each cage, barely large enough to house them was a woman, many of them just girls, naked and covered in filth. Most of which were visibly pregnant!

And next to one row was the apparatus by which the Wraith had impregnated their human livestock. Leading _inside _the genitals of the women in this row of cages were a series of tubes that led to devices attached, surgically Valdon's horrified mind told him, to the genitals of a handful of naked men and boys being held in their own cages aboard some kind of hovercraft. As the horrified Corps' members watched the tubes pulled themselves out of the women and the men were moved to another row of women before the tubes moving like tentacles of some kind of monstrous cephalopod proceeded to forcibly insert themselves into the helpless women, where they filled their wombs with the semen they had forcibly extracted from the poor men.

Everyone one of the humans in the cages, men or women had empty looks on their faces. A clear sign that their fate had broken their minds. And that perhaps above everything was most chilling.

Valdon had read and heard about the horrible condition in the Wraith's human farms before, but he'd never seen it. Now that he had, he wished he hadn't.

"By the Ancestors!"

Valdon didn't know who had said it. It could have been anyone. Or all of them.

All he knew in that moment was anger. Raising his Tieren's plasma cannon, he carefully lined up a shot and fired, blasting the impregnation tubes to pieces and leaving the hovercraft holding the men reeling back.

"_Tear this place apart!" _Captain Morian shouted, seemingly shaken out of her horror. "_And kill any Wraith you find here! The quicker we do that, the more quickly we can get these people out of their cages! So move it!"_

That lit a fire under her men alright and they poured into the facility, eager to get the job done and free these people.

Valdon would have felt left out, his Mobile Suit being too big to fit inside the building and thus unable to help with securing it. However, an alert sounding from his sensors told him he had he had plenty to do in this liberation still.

Spinning around, he used his shield to absorb the plasma lance that the newly arrived Wraith Enforcer sent his way. It took out the rest of his shield but Valdon didn't care as he shoulder barged the machine even as it hovered just off the ground. Shocked by the sudden move, the Wraith didn't move to evade until it was too late and Valdon managed to tear a whole section of its torse off with his charge.

The Enforcer tried to fly away but Valdon didn't give it the chance. Leveling his cannon directly at the hole he'd made in the enemy's midsection, he fired a quick burst and finished the machine off.

However, even as it died Valdon's sensors beeped to signal even more inbound Wraith mecha.

Smiling a rictus grin, Valdon turned to face the newcomers. It was time to kill some Wraith. After seeing the horrors they had inflicted on his fellow humans, in his mind, death was the only thing they deserved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done!
> 
> So I totally put in a straw man progressive/SJW/leftist/regressive argument in the second scene. I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist. Especially since I could totally see some people who subscribe to that ideology make exactly that kind of argument even in the face of local people pointing out its flaws just like Kevan does. If anything take the critique inherent in that scene as more of one against leftists with weak, self-centred arguments rather than leftist ideology as a whole i.e. the fools who give their own side a bad name. I might not agree with progressivism but I can see its attraction and the merit of some of its arguments. It's some of the wannabes who don't even know what they're talking about but go mouthing off like they're some morally and intellectually superior person that irks me. Anyways, that's my motivation behind the scene. Agree or disagree with me, hopefully you won't review bomb me for it. If you have something to say then let's take it to PMs where depending on my mood I might just have a debate with you.
> 
> Okay, rant over! Back to our regular programming.
> 
> Why did I let Kevan deploy without strike craft support of any kind? To show just how inexperienced he is at fighting on an interstellar scale. He's lucky he survived and a lot of that was thanks to Expedition intelligence officers pointing him towards targets he'd survive without them. It's an idiot ball, but one deliberately given.
> 
> Alright, onto the last bit of business and probably the most important at least to me. Why I went into such horrific detail about the Wraith human farms? Simple. To hammer it in just how terrible the Wraith are. Unlike the Asurans who in this verse are essentially just misguided religious fanatics guilty of genocide, the Wraith are worse. That is the point I'm trying to make. Because the Asurans still value human life even as they consider it of low value, the Wraith though… they see humans as nothing but food. In canon, they saw humans as prey hence leaving free roaming human societies to hunt. But here, in a universe where they're fighting a total war for thousands of years? Humans have been reduced even further in their eyes. To the WoLverse Wraith, humans are in most cases food. Nothing more.
> 
> On that terrifying note xayr!


	28. Raising Tensions - The Assault on Midway Station

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of the IPs from which any imported elements may originate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Pegasus War**

**Chapter Twenty Eight: Raising Tensions - The Assault on ** _ **Midway Station** _

**Beta: **

* * *

"So was Lady Protector Mara angry that her husband got played by Princess Flora's pretty face to help guard her sister Harmony's coronation pilgrimage?" Terence asked Kevan, gesturing to the woman in question who was busy talking to another Pegasus leader.

Terence and the rest of the AR-15 were currently escorting Kevan, Beloukas and other Pegasus dignitaries as they returned from negotiations on Earth for formal recognition as members of the Coalition. Specifically, the group were currently waiting in one of the lounges in the _Midway Station_ as they killed time while they all waited for the 24-hour medical quarantine for all travelers passed. A safety precaution instituted despite the advanced medical scanners everyone was subjected to as part of disembarkation upon Gating into the station, as no one wanted to risk a disease outbreak.

"She was most amused actually." Beloukas said with a grin. "Apparently she offered an invitation for the Princess to share their bed in the future."

Terence just shook his head. "That man has the best luck when it comes to women."

"He may have been lucky with women but unfortunately he has terrible luck with enemies," Kevan said with a chuckle. "I believe he ran into a pair of human-form Replicators while attending his father's funerary rites on Earth?"

"Unfortunately," Terence confirmed. "Thankfully, he handled it. Even recruited one for the Expedition. She's in the Technical Sciences department I believe."

"And dealing with his ex-wife too," Yod added as he wandered over a few bottles of beers. "A pretty ex-wife too. Like the Major said, that man has all the luck with women."

All the men chuckled at that truth.

I'd rather have his luck then Doctors Weir, Carson and McKay's. I wouldn't want to be stuck in an old Genii mine on M5V-801 like they did." Larry asked as he joined them with a tray of snacks.

"Can't dispute that." Wrex said with a grin bringing beers for the rest of them.

They were just settling down to enjoy their drinks when suddenly the station's intercom flared to life.

"_Unscheduled Pegasus Gate activation! Red Alert! I repeat red alert!"_

Terence reacted immediately. "Larry, Yod, go get our gear! Wrex, go hunt down the other dignitaries who aren't here. They should be in their rooms. We'll rendezvous at the nearest escape ship."

"Yes, sir." Larry said as he and the Thai ran off towards the armory where they'd surrendered their weapons.

"Got it, Major." Wrex said as he too rushed off.

"You do not believe the station's defenders can deal with this?"

"Let's just say, I'd rather be safe than sorry." Terence told him before he stood to address the crowd of Pegasus leaders sharing the lounge. "Attention everyone! I would like you to follow my instructions-"

* * *

Terence was right to be cautious as in the large hall that housed the Pegasus Gate, chaos had erupted. Chaos that had spread to the very control station of the massive space station.

"Have you dealt with the virus yet?" Albionian Second Prime Sehunded, commander of the _Midway Station_, asked the technician manning the engineering station even as he watched the video feed showing Asurans pouring into his base.

Using the element of surprise granted them by their virus disabling the Gate's shield, the Replicators had tossed a dozen powerful explosives through the wormhole which stirred up even more confusion. Something which they proceeded to exploit by swarming through the Gate. His men had fought and were still fighting back hard despite all that, but between the suddenness of everything and the Replicators' use of personal shield emitters they were steadily being overwhelmed.

"We're still trying, Prime." The technician said as he worked furiously at his console.

"Hurry up," Sehunded hissed as he saw the Asurans send one of their damnable Minervas through the Gate. The machine barely fit through the wormhole, but squeeze through it did before promptly unleashing its heavy weapons on the remainder of the Gate Defense Teams. Between its firepower and its shields absorbing their return fire, the Mobile Armor singlehandedly crushed what remained of the resistance within the Pegasus Gate Room.

"We've got it!" The technician said at last. "Shield's going up now!

"A little late for that," Sehunded said with a growl. "Have the men formed up at the second defense line?"

"They have," Sehunded's second said with a nod. "I've also ordered them to bring up heavy weapons."

Sehunded nodded. "Good thinking. They'll need it if the Asurans somehow manage to move that Mobile Armor through the corridors."

The thing was too big for them, but he wasn't going to put _anything _past the Replicators.

* * *

"Alright that's the last of them," Kevan told Terence as the last of the Pegasus dignitaries filed aboard the Tel'tak serving as an escape ship. "What will you do now?"

"Go assist in the Station's defense." Terence told him. "You stay safe here and launch at the slightest sign of danger. Got it?"

"I'll make sure we stay safe." Kevan said with a nod as he raised his AK-47 meaningfully.

Sure that he was leaving the dignitaries in safe hands, Terence turned to the rest of his team.

"Let's go help the locals out." He said as he jogged off, the others following after his lead.

"Any idea where to go boss?" Yod asked. "This is a _very _big station."

"Why don't you comms the station control and ask for us?"

"Oh right! On it, boss."

They continued jogging towards the general direction of the Pegasus Gate Room as Yod got them clearer orders.

"Huh, that's a surprise." Yod said as he got off the comms. "Boss, they want us to head to the central armory. Something about wanting your help with some plan their Chief Science Officer cooked up."

"Isn't their Chief Science Officer Dr. Peter Kavanagh?" Wrex asked. "You know, that obnoxious guy who transferred off _Atlantis _after only one tour?"

"That's the one," Terence agreed. "I wonder what he has planned."

* * *

Hermóðr had been rotated off frontline duty in the Pegasus a week ago to a peaceful posting as garrison commander of the _Midway Station_ Defense fleet and had been enjoying some of the free time it offered to catch up on some research. He honestly wasn't much of a researcher, but like all Asgard he did dabble. His particular area of interest revolved around the study of prehistoric ecologies. He was deep in his reading of the latest academic papers published on the Earth's Pleistocene when the _Hala_'s alarms blared.

Dismissing the papers, the Asgard commander turned his attention to his tactical display which showed a large Asuran fleet advancing towards the giant regular octahedron structure with a large superstructure around its central section that was the _Defiance_-class Mobile Defense Station donated by Albion to be used as the _Midway Station_. Another alert beeped and even as he relayed orders for his fleet to gather in a defensive formation at the midpoint between the approaching Asurans and the station, he saw what it was about.

_The Asurans have breached the Pegasus Gate on the station!? How did they get the macro, I wonder? No matter. We can find that out after we've dealt with these attackers_

Doing so would be a tall order however. The enemy outnumbered his force of thirty three capital ships at least two to one. The one big advantage he had though was the _Midway Station_ itself.

"Release flak clouds and launch all strike craft," Hermóðr ordered. "But have our pilots stay close. Once the enemy engages, start pulling back slowly."

A chorus of affirmatives came in from the various captains under his command and Hermóðr nodded in satisfaction even as he focused on the tactical display. As he expected, the Asurans saw his move to keep their strike craft - of which thanks to the _Midway Station_'s own large complement and the Asurans own general paucity of such were one area where he had a large, if sadly not overwhelming, advantage - close to the main fleet as a sign of weakness. They thus pounced, abandoning their previous cautious advance they began accelerating once more.

The Asurans had always enjoyed a small range advantage for their ship to ship weapons then the Expedition's forces, so as was the norm they fired first. And as ordered, his ships began slowly retreating opening fire as they did the moment the Asurans came within range of their guns.

_Good. Everything is going according to plan. _Hermóðr thought as he glanced at the markers on the tactical display indicating the range of the _Midway Station_'s main weapon.

[_Midway_, if you'd be so kind.] The Asgard sent in text to the station's control room.

[It's our pleasure.]

At that statement, the upper point of the octahedron that made up much of the station's mass began glowing with a brilliant orange light before suddenly unleashing an unnatural lightning storm that played across the unsuspecting Asuran fleet. The shields of every ship the bolts of energy touched flared brilliantly for an instant before popping like it had been little more than a soap bubble and the ship it protected was disintegrated by the same destructive power. In a single firing of the deadly weapon based on Anubis' old superweapon, the _Midway Station_ had destroyed a third of the Asuran fleet.

"All ships: Counterattack! Do not let the enemy regroup!"

* * *

"You called me down to help you with _this_?" Terence asked incredulously as he wired up yet another keron disruptor attachment to the device that he and Dr. Kavanagh was working on.

"You're the only other person on this station remotely familiar with this tech," the abrasive scientist shot back. "If you weren't I wouldn't have bothered calling you."

"And your technicians aren't good enough?" Wrex asked, gesturing to where a number of the doctor's subordinates were doing exactly what Terence was.

"They know how to follow instructions," Dr. Kavanagh retorted. "But the Major actually knows something about how keron disruptors work. That's a leg up on most of them."

"And I barely know anything." Terence complained as he finished connecting one last disruptor, looking over at the half dozen technicians that had been doing the same he saw that they were done too. "But that should be the last of them. Now let's just hope you didn't just waste our time and your little 'bomb' works."

"Of course it'll work," Dr. Kavanagh insisted. "And for the last time, it's not a bomb!"

"Just activate it already, damnit!" Yod shouted.

"Amen." Larry said with a nod.

"Argh. Fine!" Dr. Kavanagh shouted as he activated the device.

Immediately, a massive keron disruption wave shot out from the _Midway Station_'s central armory and spread out over the entire immediate region in space. As it travelled through the station's hallways it immediately rendered the Asurans still fighting the station's defenders inert, causing their bodies to collapse into piles of silver dust. Much the same fate awaited the Asurans aboard their attack fleet which by now had turned in full retreat in the face of the fierce counterattack by the station's defense fleet. Rendered crewless by the wave, the remaining Asuran ships were easily picked off.

"Did it work?" Dr. Kavanagh asked, sounding hopeful.

"By the sound of the comms chatter it did." Yod said with a grimace.

"Good job, Dr. Kavanagh." Terence told the shocked scientist.

"It worked!? It worked!" Dr. Kavanagh shouted in joy as the news set in. "Finally! I've _finally _saved the day with my genius. Take that McKay! You're not the only one who can do it!"

AR-15 just exchanged a nervous look with each other and the man's subordinates as Dr. Kavanagh continued to celebrate his triumph.

* * *

"We've traced where the Asurans got the macro for the Intergalactic Gate Bridge from," Yuki said as she briefed the Expedition senior staff a day after the Replicators' attack on the _Midway Station_. "Aris, if you would explain."

"Thank you, Miss Iwasaki." The Cylon said with a polite nod as she took over addressing the meeting. "It appears the Asurans stole the macro and some other data through one of their periodic cyberattacks."

"Has the hole been plugged?" Dr. Weir asked with a worried frown.

"This particular vulnerability in our cyber defenses has been identified and closed," Aris reassured her. "At the same time, in light of this breach we've also tightened overall cyber security."

"And do we know what the Asurans stole?"

"Not quite yet," Aris said with a frown. "They covered their tracks well. It'll take some time to figure out what else they managed to get away with."

"I'll have my agents keep their ears to the ground as well." Yuki added.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done!
> 
> Another short one. Sorry about that. Just wasn't feeling up to making this any longer. Why should be apparent by the next chapter.
> 
> Well, Dr. Peter Kavanagh got his chance to shine didn't he? I just thought it a little sad that he never got one that I decided to give him a minor one here. With the Midway being what it is in the WoLverse, the Asurans really didn't stand a chance so he didn't so much save the day as made the victory easier. Still, he did do something impressive so congratulations?
> 
> Well that's it for me this chapter, so till next time baaj!


	29. Weapons Testing - New Toys

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of the IPs from which any imported elements may originate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Pegasus War**

**Chapter Twenty Nine: Weapons Testing - New Toys**

**Beta: **

* * *

It was a cool night on _Altanits _and AR-15 joined a large number of the city's off duty personnel as they gathered on one of its piers where some of the engineers had set up a projection to show the arrival of the latest reinforcements from the Milky Way. This wasn't usually such a major affair but this batch of new arrivals were special, being the single largest reinforcement of the Expedition since its inception hence the major party.

The ships weren't due to arrive for a while yet, so as they waited AR-15 had commandeered one of the many picnic tables set out for the occasion and were chatting about recent events.

"I still think it's incredible with how Teyla manages to both raise her young son and be part of AR-1." Wrex said with a disbelievingly shake of her head. "It's not unheard of for women to work while taking care of young children even among us Lacuans, but the ease with which she does so is astounding."

"I guess it helps when practically the whole Expedition pitches in whenever necessary to help take care of the boy."

"Is that a bad thing, Yod?" Larry asked. "I do believe the saying goes that it takes a village to raise a child."

"I guess," Yod conceded. "But that boy's got serious clout behind him. I mean his middle name is John! Who's gonna want to disappoint _the _Colonel Sheppard by not helping with the kid when asked."

"And the boy being a wonderful little tyke doesn't factor into the equation?" Terence asked rhetorically. "Besides, I think Torren John Emmagan is a good name. It respects her father and the boy's godfather. It fits him well."

"I must agree." Wrex said with a nod, before lifting his bottle of beer for a toast. "To Teyla and Torren! May they live long and happy lives!"

"To Teyla and Torren!" Everyone echoed as they clinked their bottles with his own.

"Yo Wrex, quick question." Yod said after gulping down what looked like half his bottle.

"What?"

"You don't have any long-lost friends do you?"

"Oh come off it!" Wrex said, playfully shoving the much larger Thai man. "Even if I did none of them are going to kidnap me and tried to hand me over to the Wraith."

"Ya never know," Yod insisted with a mischievous grin. "I'm betting Ronon thought that of his friend Tyre until it actually happened too."

"To be fair to the man, he did help save Ronon in the end." Terence reminded them. "Heck, he sacrificed himself to take out that Wraith lab.."

"I guess so but kidnapping your old friend like that was still a dick move."

"No doubt," Larry agreed. "But he redeemed himself in the end and that's what counts."

"I'm just glad Ronon was okay enough so AR-1 had him on hand when they got caught on that dimension hopping alternate version of the _Daedalus_." Terence said. "Judging by what they said about those aliens they fought while stuck onboard, they needed him."

"Then they're lucky Dr. McKay didn't get infected with that parasite and contracted that disease which caused rapid onset Alzheimer's, Second Childhood?"

"Yes, that's what it's called." Wrex confirmed.

"Right," Yod continued. "They're lucky he didn't it till _after _that got home. 'Cos without him I don't think they'd have made it back."

"True," Terence agreed. "For all his faults, Dr. McKay is truly a genius."

"And thank god that Dr. Carson is one of the best surgeons in three galaxies." Larry said with a smile. "He worked a miracle when he cured Dr. McKay."

"Unfortunately, his reputation precedes him a little too much." Terence said with a sigh. "Or did you forget how that Wraith Todd asked him to help him temporarily convert Teyla into a Wraith Queen so he could use her in a coup d'état to take over command of his alliance of hives."

"Watching her walking around as a Wraith was freaky as hell." Wrex said with a shiver.

The others nodded in agreement.

"Wonder why he didn't just ask Rebirth to play the part to be honest." Wrex opined. "She _was _a bona fide Wraith Queen at one point wasn't she?"

"Which is precisely why she couldn't do it." Terence explained. "She would've been recognized, even with her shapeshifting. At least that's what Todd claimed."

"And the senior staff bought it?" Yod asked skeptically.

"Not until the Hive Queens confirmed it."

"Well, if they thought so then it's probably true." The Thai conceded. "Still I pity Teyla for having to go through that ordeal."

"I know what you mean." Wrex agreed with a shudder.

"Well, at least we got him to implement the retrovirus to eliminate the Wraith need to feed."

"It still remains to be seen whether he'll carry out his end of the deal."

"He'd better," Terence said with a grin. "Or Queen Teyla will have his head."

The others chuckled.

"Dr. Carson's reputation really does procede him doesn't it?" Wrex said wonderingly. "I heard from some of my friends in New Lacus that even the barbaric Bola Kai have heard of and honour him."

"The Bola Kai, really?" Terence asked incredulously. "Aren't they that tribe of nomadic raiders?"

Wrex just nodded.

"Just goes to show how famous he's gotten." Yod said with a chuckle. "Not that we needed more proof after his rep got him kidnapped by a Runner while he was on a goodwill mission with AR-1 to help treat his injured adoptive daughter."

"It's a little sad how that played out, huh?" Larry lamented. "I mean the girl ended up separated from her guardian."

"Yeah, well at least Dr. Carson found her a home in the end." Terence offered.

"Yeah. The great Dr. Carson does another good deed." Yod said sarcastically, before becoming serious. "That man's building quite the reputation. A dangerous thing in this galaxy if you ask me."

"Not if you're AR-1." Larry countered humorously. "They don't seem to need their reputation to get yourselves into trouble."

"It's only them. They always seem to get through the craziest stuff." Wrex observed with a shake of his head. "Oh look! The new reinforcements are just folding in."

At his prompting, the team joined most of the people on the pier in turning to look at the project displaying a view of Lantea's orbit where the familiar collapsing bubble of a space fold revealed a large collection of ships. At its heart were a massive spherical Chiropteran Hiveship that Terence knew from earlier briefings to be the _Renouvelé _under the command of the Hive Queens Pamela and Amelia _and _the Albion's new Mul'tak arkship, the _Peacekeeper_. The massive new Albionian ship had an elongated rhombus shape with its dorsal and ventral surfaces dotted by a city's worth of pyramids and was one and a half times the length of the Chiropteran Hiveship next to it though he knew it to roughly equivalent in mass. All around these grand leviathans were thousands of smaller ships.

"Holy cow!" Yod exclaimed in shock. "Those are _big_!"

"Yes, they are." Terence agreed. "And I for one can't wait for the Asurans and Wraith to meet them."

"Oh, wouldn't that be a sight." Wrex said with a bloodthirsty grin.

"Amen, gentlemen. Amen."

* * *

While Terence and the rest of the _Atlantis _personnel on the pier were being awed by the new arrivals Shirohime, her beloved twin, and the Expedition senior staff had gathered in the Stargate Operations conference room to formally welcome the new arrivals.

In a burst of light and a charming chime, three figures beamed down into the room.

At the front were a pair of young girls of about twelve with long turquoise hair that reached their bottoms and were dressed in a pair of matching Victorian style dresses. They looked practically identical save that one girl had red eyes and the other blue. Behind them stood a handsome man dressed in a Regency era British Navy Captain's uniform.

"Queen Amelia, Queen Pamela, Fleet Lord Drake, it is my honour to welcome you to _Atlantis _and the Pegasus galaxy." Dr. Weir greeted the new arrivals with a formal bow.

"It's a pleasure to be here, Dr. Weir." Amelia, the red-eyed Hive Queen, said with a curtsy that her twin, Pamela, crudely copied.

_It seems our sisters have not changed much. _Kuro sent to Shiro over their private link. _Amelia is still the serious one._

_Did you expect any different?_

_No, but I could hope couldn't I?_

Shiro suppressed her chuckle. It would be unseemly to laugh during such a formal occasion.

_Ah, it looks like Pamela is at the end of her tolerance. _Kuro said, mentally nudging her to look at how their sister's eyes had started wandering. _I think it's time we stepped in._

_Quite._ Shiro agreed as she took a step forward.

Thankfully, Dr. Weir had just finished the introductions so her cutting in wasn't inappropriate.

"Sisters, let me extend my and Kuro's welcome to you too." Shiro said spreading her arms for a hug that a smiling Pamela happily obliged even as Kuro and Amelia just shook hands.

Squeezing her smaller sister lightly as an indication for her to let go, Shiro stepped back to better address her. "And to honour the occasion, we've prepared a welcome gift for you."

"You shouldn't have," Amelia said though it was half-hearted.

She might not be literally jumping on the spot in excitement like her twin but the way her eyes sparkled in anticipation was telling enough.

"We insist," Kuro said with a mischievous grin as she gestured to Yuki who brought forward an extra large sundae that they'd prepared and kept in a cooler under the conference table.

"Our favourite!" Pamela squealed as she blurred to Yuki's side and snatched the sugary treat from her hands. "Amy~! It's even our favourite flavours!"

"Really!?" The red twin asked, dropping any pretense and blurring to join her sister. "It is! Thanks Shiro, Kuro!"

Both Lantean Queens waved them off even as the two younger seeming Hive Queens blurred to a corner of the room and began devouring their treat, leaving a room of stupefied but amused adults.

"While the Queens are distracted," Drake said with a grin, breaking the silence. "Why don't I give you all a rundown of the whole array of new goodies I've bought for you ladies and gentlemen."

* * *

In the infinite blue space that was hyperspace sat one of Albion and the Expedition's newest ships. Looking like a Tau'ri submarine with its cigar shaped hull and a single pyramidal section at the rear that was reminiscent of a sub's conning tower, the new Ger'taks cruised through the alternate dimension in much the same way said submarines would underwater.

"Amazing," Rodney said as he looked over the readings from the sensors of the Ger'tak he and his team had been assigned to as observers. "I'd never have thought something like this was even possible. Traveling like this through hyperspace _shouldn't_ be possible, but somehow you're making it work. Who came up with this?"

"Her Majesty herself," the Ger'tak's commander, a wizened old Jaffa woman that could pass for his grandmother, informed him. "With the Ori war over she's had more free time and spent some of it developing this beauty."

"I really need to study up on what Magitech is capable of."

"Later Rodney." Sheppard told him. "Cap- Uh, Prime, how long till we get to Asuras?"

"Captain is fine Colonel." The Jaffa said with a kind smile. "I understand it's difficult for you to keep track of all the different ranks in the various militaries of the Coalition. As for you, question. Sensors?"

"We're in the system now." The young Jaffa woman promptly. "ETA to firing position is twenty seconds."

"And you're sure they can't detect us?" Ronon asked, his eyes narrowed. "I don't fancy our chances if we need to fight our way out. This _is _Asuras we're talking about."

"No worry about that Ronon." Rodney reassured the Satedan. "We're traveling so deep in hyperspace, figuratively speaking of course since depth isn't a thing there-"

"Rodney!"

"Right. Sorry. Anyways, the Asurans' sensors can't even penetrate this deep into hyperspace. So, no, they can't detect us."

"That is a relief," Teyla said with a nod.

"Indeed," the ship's commander agreed. "Are we in position?"

"Yes, Prime. We can surface at your order."

"Are the other ships in position?"

"We're still waiting on the _Demiguise _and _Dugbog_." The ship's comms officer replied.

"What's their ETA?"

"_Dugbog _just got into position. The _Demiguise_ says it needs another minute."

"Then we wait," the elderly Jaffa matron said, crossing her arms.

"Sheppard, you think this attack is gonna work?" Ronon asked, cutting into the expectant quiet.

"It better." Sheppard said with a shrug. "Since we're already here and all that."

"Prime, all ships report they're in position. High command is starting the countdown."

Suddenly, the bridge's forward viewscreen was bisected with its top half replaced by a large timer counting down from a minute. Anticipation raced through everyone then, and Rodney felt himself holding his breath as the last few seconds ticked down.

"Surface and launch our payload!" The ship commander ordered as the timer finally reached zero.

At her command, their Ger'tak shimmered into real space. A feat repeated in orbit over a dozen strategic worlds across Asuran and Wraith space before unleashed their deadly payloads. For Asuran worlds this took the form of the keron disruptor bombs developed by Dr. Peter Kavanagh, while against the Wraith the new version of the Hoffan drug now refined into a direct biological agent - thanks in no small part of fatal testing on their Wraith prisoner, 'Steve' - that targeted the Wraith but left humans unharmed was delivered via specially designed missiles.

Caught completely unawares by the Ger'taks' sudden appearance, the various Asurans and Wraith defense fleets were unable to respond in time and could only watch helplessly as the Expedition's new weapons unleashed untold devastation to their peoples on the worlds below. Many of them, furious at their losses, tried to destroy the ships that had delivered the destruction only to find the ships shimmering back into non-existence before they could even establish a lock for their weapons.

Thus what would become called the Great Ger'tak Raid would end in a decisive victory for the Atlantis Expedition.

* * *

Such a victory would not go unanswered however and as the Expedition had predicted the Asurans promptly launched a retaliatory counterattack. Their first target as deciphered by analysis of their troop movements observed via long range sensors was the freshly liberated world of M1R-992. To that end, the Expedition amassed a large defense fleet over the world to face it. These forces were further complemented by a network of static defenses deployed over the world which in addition to the formidable Lantean Defense Satellites now included hundreds of smaller, fighter sized, diamond shaped Tollan Defense Satellites that were each armed with a single Tollan ion cannon.

However, the Expedition had made one miscalculation in preparing M1R-992's defense. They had misjudged the timing of the Asuran attack.

"The Asuran fleet just dropped out of hyperspace," the Nine manning the sensors shouted into the expectant quiet of the _Graystone_'s bridge.

"They are here early. We're still deploying the last of the satellites." Aris noted with a frown. "No matter. Throw up a flak screen and pull us to the back of our formation. We don't have the capability to be out front in a slug fest like this."

"We won't make it. The enemy are targeting us." Daniel replied fatalistically as the shields took a direct hit and the entire ship rocked. "That was a direct hit from a _Aurora_'s main battery. It took out our shields entirely. You need to order the crew to abandon ship."

_Bloody hell!? One hit? That's all it took?_ The readings she was getting from the ship's system corroborated Daniel's assessment though, so with gritted teeth she carried out Daniel's suggestion.

"Abandon ship!" Aris ordered, both verbally and over the ship's intercom. "I repeat! All hands! Abandon ship!"

The ship rocked hard, causing Aris to stumble and in the process was forced to pull her hands out of the interface pool.

"What happened?" Aris asked, now unable to get a direct feed from the _Graystone_'s systems.

"We just lost one of the prongs to a hit."

"How many casualties?"

"We beamed off a dozen or so, but at least fifty are MIA."

_Thank god we finally convinced the Expedition senior staff we needed beam transporters to up our efficiency. _Aris thought even as she grimaced at the lost of Cylon lives.

"Accelerate the evacuation!" Aris ordered before gesturing to a trio of Centurions serving as bridge security and a fellow Eight manning tactical. "You four with me."

"What are you doing?" Daniel asked and the four fell in with Aris as she rushed to the column in the heart of the bridge that housed his personality core.

"You're a part of this crew too. If we're abandoning ship, then you're coming with us." Aris said even as the Factoryship shook with what she was sure was another hit.

"That was to the central pylon!" Daniel told her, sounding alarmed. "We're breaking up. Leave me! You don't have time for this!"

"No!" Aris shouted defiantly as she worked as fast as she could to disconnect Daniel from the remains of the ship, ignoring how their surroundings shook non-stop as the _Graystone _disintegrated around them. "You may be abrasive ass but you're one of us. I'm not leaving you behind!"

"Aris! The bridge bulkheads just sealed! The halls outside are depressurizing!" The other Eight shouted sounding panicked.

"Has everyone else beamed off?"

"Yes, but-"

"Then ignore it and keep working!"

"I appreciate the thought," Daniel said, sounding genuine. "But I can't let you die. I'm sorry."

"Sorry? Sorry about wha-"

Aris was cut off as a bright light and accompanying chime teleported her and the others away moments before the bridge was consumed by the explosion caused by a direct hit.

"-what?" Aris finished as she rematerialized on the gaudy deck of some Goa'uld vessel.

"That son of a bitch." The Cylon commander shouted as she realized what had happened. "You! What happened to my ship?"

The young Jaffa soldier she'd singled out quailed at her demand, but managed a stuttering reply.

"I-I'm sorry, P-Prime. It's g-gone."

Aris stumbled back in shock and would have collapsed if her fellow Eight hadn't caught her.

"No! No, no, no! NO!"

* * *

"_Here they come," _the commander of the flight of the Tau'ri's new MiG MS-1 Orels said over Xinyue's comms as a dozen Asuran Minervas came flying towards him and his squadron. "_Like we discussed. Help us box them in and we'll finish them off together."_

"Affirmative," Xinyue sent back as he and his men moved to intercept the Asuran Mobile Armors which were being doggedly pursued by a flight of sleek fighters with forward-swept wings and their main weapons mounted over their heads which combined to give it a long, narrow profile for its nose.

These agile new Tau'ri machines were harrying the Minervas and herding them directly towards Xinyue's squadron. They were already beginning to trade fire with the Asurans when the fighters transformed into Mobile Suits with a sleek, slender appearance whose wings had transformed into long very thin arms. They had stifle-jointed legs, and a face that was dominated by a single large visor. All in all, these new Tau'ri interceptors looked suitably intimidating. Deadly too as they exploited the improved weapons accuracy afforded by the more stable firing platform that was their Mobile Suit mode to quickly finish off the Minervas. Between the Orels and his own squadron, the Minervas barely lasted two minutes before being reduced to scrap.

"_Thanks for the assist," _the Orel squadron commander said with a salute.

"No problem. Happy hunting." Xinyue returned.

"_You as well,"_ his opposite number said as he and his men transformed back into their agile and fast Flight modes and rocketed away.

"Alright, where to next?" Xinyue muttered as he consulted his tactical display.

They were currently at the edge of the strike craft melee and thus had few enemies around, a result of them having just finished recharging their shields. It was thus a perfect chance to get a bearing on the situation.

_That Whitestar group over there looks like it's in trouble._ Xinyue observed as he made his decision.

"Men, follow me. We're going to back up that Tau'ri Whitestar and its escorts over there."

"_Yes, Prime!" _His men chorused over the comms, eager to rejoin the fray.

The Whitestar Mobile Armor was yet another of the Tau'ri's new weapons. Usually it traveled around in what it called its Crusie Mode, making look like a bullet roughly the size of an Al'kesh with six thrusters in a ring at its rear and a bank of plasma torpedo tubes recessed into its port and starboard armor just ahead of its engine assembly. The Whitestar he was vectoring towards however had switched from the maneuverable Cruise Mode into its Combat Mode. As a result, its nose section had split into five sections that formed a star like shape granting the Mobile Armor access to its primary armaments including a spinal Positron Cannon and a host of smaller Plasma Repeater turrets spread across its various sections. Despite this impressive amount of firepower, the Whitestar was being overwhelmed by a pack of Asuran Vulcans even though its Repeaters threw up an impressive flak screen that negated the Replicators' Drones.

All around the Whitestar the familiar and hated Replicator Mobile Suits were dueling with Mobile Suits with a sleeker frame than either the Albionian Rifleman or the Jade Tieren and with a single long strip over the sensor array built into its head unlike the single tracking optic that of its counterparts as well as a v-shaped set of antenna built into the forehead that further set it apart from other Mobile Suits. These were GMs, the Tau'ri's new Multirole Mobile Suit. There were at least three different types of GMs fighting in front of Xinyue though, made so by the different Striker Packs they were equipped with.

The majority were equipped with what he believed they called the Blaze Striker Pack, a backpack containing high-powered thrusters designed to enhance the GM's mobility and maneuverability in both space and atmosphere which was armed with two missile pods to complement the GMs' existing particle pulse rifles. These were supported by a trio that were sporting the Launcher Striker Pack that included a Light Positron Cannon and a combo weapons pod consisting of a rotary cannon and a pair of plasma mortars. Leading them was a commander type equipped with an Integrated Weapons Striker Pack that combined the primary characteristics of the Blaze and Launcher Striker Packs into a single set of equipment.

_Wasn't there an Oracle Strike Pack? That one's designed to help provide Command, Control, and Communication (C3) so I suppose it isn't needed here. _Xinyue noted idly as he closed into range of a Vulcan and shot it in the back, shattering its weakened shields and allowing the Blaze equipped GM it was facing to finish it off. _In a melee like this the large antenna-laden backpack and large shoulder-mounted parabolic dish antenna would just be a hindrance._

He'd just had the thought when the GM commander kicked, _literally_, a Vulcan in front of the Whitestar's main cannon. Not wasting the opportunity, the Mobile Armor's pilot opened fire and disintegrated the Asuran with its Positron Cannon.

"_Thanks for the assist," _the Tau'ri commander said over the comms as he shot at a Vulcan trying to sneak behind Xinyue. Spinning around, the newly promoted Jade Second Prime fired a burst at close range at the Asuran Mobile Suit shattering its shield even as he had to use his heat blade to parry the other machine's lance thrust.

Tucking its legs close to his machine's chest, Xinyue fired the maneuvering thrusters built into its shins and feet directly into the enemy Mobile Suit's chest sending it hurtling back and ripe for him to finish of with his gun, which he promptly did.

"_Wow! I didn't think you could even use a Mobile Suit that way." _The Tau'ri commander said as he flew over taking out a pair of Minvervas trying to swoop in on Xinyue's position while he'd been finishing off the Vulcan.

"First, I'm glad to help." Xinyue replied. "Second, you learn something new every battle."

"_Uh, thanks again. And, um, good lesson." _The commander of the GMs said sounding confused, as they both vectored towards a trio of Vulcans pressuring a lone Launcher GM that was admirably holding them off with its Positron Cannon.

Blitzing the three Replicator Mobile Suits and firing off some countermeasures to deal with the two Drones they launched, the three Expedition Mobile Suits made short work of them. They were all about to move on to new targets when the alarms started beeping on all their computers.

"_What the hell-"_

"It seems, my Tau'ri friend, that the Wraith have decided they, as your people would say, would like to join the party." Xinyue replied with a frown as he glanced into the distance and saw several large hyperspace windows open, disgorging a sizable Wraith fleet.

_Damnit! What's with all our enemies being early today?_

* * *

The Wraith were many things but foolish was not one of them. They had known that like themselves, the Asurans would not let the Expedition's latest attack go unpunished and would launch a counterattack. Unlike the machines however the Wraith had chosen to kill two birds with one stone and instead of attacking the Expedition in their own offensive, had amassed their forces to do so at the same place the Asurans would. It didn't matter who won the initial battle, the Wraith would wait until the victor was determined then jump in, smash its depleted fleet and use the opening they'd created to push deep into Expedition territory. At least that was the plan that Expedition intelligence had gathered that the Wraith had made.

Unfortunately, that wasn't quite how it played out. Either due to a miscalculation on the Wraith's part or a change in their plans that the Expedition was unaware of, the lifesuckers had jumped in while the battle was still in full swing. This was however not a possibility that the Expedition was unprepared for.

"All Corps' ships: Drop cloak and raise shields. Microjump to engage the Wraith fleet." Kevan relayed to all the ships under his command from the bridge of the _Orion_.

Having fully expected a second enemy fleet to pounce on them once the initial enemy attack had been defeated, the Expedition had hidden a reserve of ships further out in M1R-992's system under cloak precisely for the moment. Said moment had come earlier than expected but the reserve made of the men and women of the Expedition Native Corps were ready.

"Sir, all ships have completed the jump and are vectoring in formation towards the flank of the Wraith fleet." Kevan's XO informed him seconds after the _Orion _rematerialized. "But I must express my concerns with engaging the Wraith like this. Without the support from the garrison fleet, we're outnumbered."

"I am aware," Kevan said with a frown. "However, the garrison fleet is still engaged with the Asurans. We will need to hold the Wraith back until such time as they have dealt with the Replicators and wheel around to assist us."

"Sir. We are outnumbered four to three. Can we manage even that?"

"We must," Kevan declared with finality as they entered combat range. "Raise our flak screens! We don't want any stray enemy Drones from hitting us!"

"Yes sir." The young Hallonan woman manning the tactical station replied professionally. "Sir, permission to open fire?"

"All ships: Fire at will!"

* * *

Even as the capital ships of the Native Corps engaged their Wraith counterparts, Valdon found himself fighting for his life in the strike craft melee between the two fleets against a persistent Enforcer.

"Die already, you vampire scum!" The Second Lieutenant shouted as he dodged around yet another lance of the enemy machine's particle cannon and fired a burst of his plasma cannon in reply.

Much to his annoyance however, the expertly piloted enemy machine simply danced around his fire returning it with a stream of energy bolts from its plasma repeater. Unfortunately for the Wraith though, it was so focused on Valdon that it completely missed the Drone shot from an incoming Asuran Vulcan that caught it in the back and blew it to pieces.

"Shit!" Valdon cursed as he fired a set of his countermeasures, taking out the _other _Drone that the Replicator had loosed and which had zeroed in on him.

Unfortunately, his jinking to avoid said Drone put him right in the sights of the plasma fire the Vulcan was firing from the repeaters built into its lance.

"Damnit! My shields are taking a beating!" Valdon noted as he tried to shake off the Vulcan but to no avail.

"_Corps' Tieren. Hang in there. We'll get him off your back." _A gravelly voice said over the comms.

Valdon hadn't even opened a channel to respond yet when a Fiendish Enforcer accompanied by a pair of Chiropteran Fighters zoomed pass him, their guns blazing. Spinning around, the young Belkan looked in shock as the three Chiropteran machines made short work of the Vulcan. The two Fighters immediately flew off in search of more prey but the bright red Fiendish mecha turned and offered him a salute.

Shakily Valdon returned it, before watching the machine nod and fly away after its fellows.

_I guess there really is more of a difference between them and the Wraith than just colour. _Valdon thought to himself as he got himself back under control. _These Fiends really are on our side, huh?_

* * *

Even as Valdon was having his epiphany, Kevan was struggling to keep his fleet from being completely routed as they were pushed back hard by the Wraith.

"Sir, we just lost the _Sateda's Revenge_!" His tactical officer shouted. "And the _Manaria's Fury _is falling back with heavy damage."

"Hold the line!" Kevan roared. "Don't be disheartened! We still have the ships to win this! And the garrison fleet is almost done with the Asurans. They're already repositioning to help us. Order the first line to pull back, get the second line to replace it. Fourth and third lines offer fire-"

"Sir! Incoming hostile!" The comm officer suddenly shouted, cutting him off. "It's on a collision course!"

"Tactical! Take it out!"

"We're trying!" The frazzled woman shouted back.

Gritting his teeth to control his temper, Kevan turned to the viewscreen showing the image outside the _Orion_. A quick glance at the tactical display told him that the enemy ship was close enough that looking at its approach directly would be more useful.

The damned thing was a Wraith cruiser. Heavily damaged and being even more mauled as it hurtled towards them, but despite it all still kept coming undeterred.

"Shields?"

"Too low to withstand a direct impact!"

"Can we shake it?" Kevan tried instead.

"It's too close!" The helm officer shouted back.

Before he could come up with another suggestion, the Wraith ship hit. The force of the impact shattered the _Aurora_-class' nearly depleted shields and the bulk of the cruiser's mass slammed into the narrow ship with such strength that it literally snapped the Ancient warship quite literally in half. These two halves of the _Orion _floated in space for a moment, before the Wraith cruiser's generators finally gave out and in an explosive detonation vaporised not only the remnants of their host ship but that of the ship it'd just killed as well.

"Welcome aboard the _Liberator_, Commander." the Taranian captain of the _Daedalus_-class he'd been beamed aboard said as the light and chime that accompanied the transport faded. "We beamed you off-"

"Save the pleasantries Captain," Kevan said cutting the man off. "Where are the rest of my crew?"

"Scattered across the fleet I believe." The man told him with an understanding nod. "All ships in the vicinity beamed off any one we could before the _Orion _went down."

"Good, what's the situation?" Kevan asked even as he moved to see the ship's tactical display for himself.

"Sir!," the _Liberator_'s sensors officer called out suddenly. "Reinforcements just arrived from M2S-318!"

Kevan breathed a sigh of relief. With the reinforcements, the battle was won. They now had an overwhelming numerical advantage that the enemy simply could not overcome.

Yet the victory did not cheer him. It had come at too high a cost.

* * *

This was a sentiment that was shared by many of the Expedition senior staff as they met to discuss the fallout of the latest series of operations.

"So we lost a hundred and eighty nine captial ships and thousands of lives for nothing?" Sheppard asked, his eyes narrowed.

"It is unfortunate," Marc agreed. "However, these are losses we can absorb."

"Tell that to the families of those who died." Sheppard shot back.

"John! Enough." Dr. Weir told the man warningly, causing him to visibly rein himself in.

"Not nothing," Yuki assured the other senior staff. "The recent operations was not a waste. They just did not deliver as much as we'd hoped."

"Yeah, especially since it's unlikely we'll get to use the Ger'taks again," McKay said with a sigh. "What a shame."

"Why wouldn't we?" Teyla asked with a frown.

"Politics back home mainly," Dr. Weir explained with a frown. "Everyone's afraid the Albionians will use the Ger'taks in the same way against them. So their use is coming under the same restrictions as other WMDs like worldbreakers and the Horizon weapon."

"But we've used worldbreakers before-"

"We had to get an exemption to do that." Dr. Gardner added. "One that we'll be unlikely to get again."

"That's bullshit," Ronon cursed. "We're going to lock away a weapon that works just because it scares some people?"

"Unfortunately, yes." Sheppard told him with a frown. "I don't like it but I think it's the right move. MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) and all that."

"I don't see how this has anything to do with going insane," Teyla noted with a frown.

"Not mad, MAD. Ugh. I'll explain it to you guys later."

"You do that Sheppard." Dr. Weir agreed. "As I was saying, thanks to the expansion of the WMD Restriction Treaty the Ger'taks will be heading back with the _Renouvelé _once the latter is finally finished unloading the supplies it brought over."

"We're losing it too?" Ronon asked, sounding exasperated.

"It was never meant to stay with us," Marc reminded him. "The _Peacekeeper _is however."

Ronon still looked unhappy but seemed at least somewhat mollified.

"Back to the matter at hand." Dr. Gardner said cutting into the unhappy silence that followed the previous line of questions. "Miss Yuki, didn't you say that both the Asurans and the Wraith have regrouped remarkably well despite the losses we inflicted during the Ger'tak raids and the Battle of M1R-992? How does that jive with us still getting significant benefits from the recent operations?"

"What I said was that the raids did not meet our goals but that has more to do with the fact that we'd hoped that these would cripple them both than anything else. A goal that in hindsight was too ambitious."

"I'd say," Ronon noted with a snort.

"That said," Yuki continued, ignoring the Satedan. "The Asurans have lost the ability to launch any further counterattacks for the time being and the Wraith… well, there, we might have struck the gold mine."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the Wraith are taking their losses badly and have broken into all out civil war with individual or groups of Hives turning against each other."

This was met with surprised murmurs from everyone.

"Is this linked to our liberation of so many of their hunting grounds?"

"I'm afraid not, Teyla." Yuki said with a regretful shake of her head. "Even without those worlds, the Wraith's farms are easily keeping them fed. They aren't fighting over food."

"Why are they fighting then?" Weir asks.

"Pride." Ronon answers. "Till now they've been undefeated. They defeated the Lanteans. They held the Asurans at bay. Till you came, till you helped the Pegasus fight back, they have never faced the prospect of true defeat. Now they do. And they cannot stomach it."

"Ronon is correct," Yuki said, offering the Satedan a nod in acknowledgement of his insight. "Their recent defeats are without precedent in their history. Unable to cope with that, they've begun a blame game which has amplified long simmering tensions between Hives into open conflict. Of course, this has been helped along by strategic attacks by the Asurans against some Hives' territories while avoiding others."

"Divide and conquer, huh?" Sheppard commented. "That's new."

"I fear they learned the trick from us." Yuki said regretfully. "That the Asurans were able to exploit the Wraith's divisions are entirely due to learning of them from the intel they stole from us alongside the macro for the Intergalactic Gate Bridge."

"Isn't them fighting amongst themselves is a good thing for us?" McKay asked uncertainly.

"I'm cautiously optimistic." Yuki said with a measured smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done!
> 
> Hope you guys liked this chapter. It's pretty damned long and action packed, so I hope it meets the bar.
> 
> Okay onto matters about the chapter I want to discuss.
> 
> The one off use of the Ger'taks is a bit annoying I know, but it's also realistic. The ships were obviously developed in secret and never used till now. Now imagine being a Coalition member and seeing Albion just show off a ship that can sneak through your space undetected, materialize in orbit over your worlds despite interdiction fields, and which is designed to deliver WMD payloads. Wouldn't you rush to ban it now that you've seen it in use and that it works as advertised? Of course, you would! Hence that's what exactly happened. I will however admit that this is in no small part a way to justify why the Expedition just doesn't use repeated Ger'tak raids to end the war.
> 
> Visual Guide:
> 
> MiG MS-1 Orel = YMS-02 Union Blast from the Gundam franchise
> 
> GMs = GAT-04 Windam from the Gundam franchise (various Striker Packs are the Striker and Wizard Packs found in the Gundam Seed series)
> 
> Whitestar = based off the MAN-003 Patulia from the Gundam franchise
> 
> Well, that's it for me this chapter. Till next time hágoónee'!


	30. Weapons Testing - Old Toys

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of the IPs from which any imported elements may originate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Pegasus War**

**Chapter Thirty: Weapons Testing - Old Toys**

**Beta: **

* * *

_It's good to be back. _Daniel thought as he stepped through the Stargate and onto _Altantis_ for the first time in months.

"Daniel!" Sarah called out happily as she moved over to greet him.

"Sarah," Daniel returned just as happily as he pulled his girlfriend into a passionate kiss.

They only pulled apart when Dr. Weir cleared her throat.

"It is good to see you again Dr. Jackson," the Expedition's leader greeted.

"Likewise Dr. Weir."

"Though mind enlightening me why you're back, besides of course spending time with Dr. Gardner. Your message was rather unclear."

"Apologies for that, we didn't want to tip anyone off to our intentions." Daniel said with an apologetic dip of his head. "I'm here following up on some leads about Janus' secret lab, which I have good reason to believe is hidden somewhere on _Atlantis_."

* * *

"Why now?" Rodney asked as he joined Daniel and herself as they explored a remote low traffic area of one of the city's piers.

"The Neo Ugarit Disaster." Daniel told him simply. "Thanks to that debacle, the Coalition needs every advantage it can get right now."

Sarah shuddered at just recalling the event. It had seen the Coalition Joint Fleet lose more than half its ships in a failed offensive against the Goa'uld Remnant aimed at the liberation of enslaved citizens from the new Coalition member state of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. Recovering from such losses would take time and in the meantime the Coalition, like Daniel said, could use any advantage to bolster its strength.

"Yeah, we heard about that disaster too." Rodney said with a sigh. "It's got quite a lot of people depressed."

"Even here in the Pegasus?" Daniel asked, surprised.

"Many are afraid that it'll lead to a drawdown in commitment to the Expedition from the Coalition." Sarah explained.

"I don't think you need to worry about that." Daniel reassured her. "The matter hasn't even been raised as a prospect in the Assembly."

"People are going to worry regardless." Rodney told him with a snort. "And I'm still not reading anything."

"We've only been searching for a few hours." Sarah said with a sigh.

"And we've found nothing." Rodney said with a huff. "Don't you have any clues we can work on Jackson?"

"Only that it should be somewhere remote. He wouldn't want anyone around when he came in and out of his lab."

"And this is the most remote part of the city," Sarah said as she surveyed the empty corridor they walking through. One that was indistinct from the dozens of others in this part of the city. That is except for a small rectangular opening on one of the wall beams.

"Something used to be attached here." Daniel said noting the opening as well.

"Hmph. And here." Rodney said walking over to another opening.

"There's three of them." Sarah pointed out walking to a third opening at a beam just past the one where Rodney had stopped.

"Looks like a run-of-the-mill sconce interface though," Rodney said, sounding unimpressed.

"Right. Well…where are the sconces?"

"Over here," Sarah said as she spotted the aforementioned lighting sconces lying in a pile nearby. "Daniel, I think we're onto something."

"Why? Because some lights fell to the ground? That could've happened for any number of reasons." Rodney said with a sigh. "Like I dunno the City surfacing after thousands of years or it getting involved in a battle?"

"Yes, but how many wall sconces fell out of their sockets in all that time."

"None," Rodney admitted. "Not unless we had to remove them ourselves to repair something."

"Exactly." Daniel continued. "So why did these fall out. Unless-"

"Unless, they were designed to be removable." Sarah said, finishing Daniel's thoughts.

"Okay, that actually makes sense." Rodney admitted with a frown. "But does it have anything to do with Janus' lab?"

"Maybe. Maybe not. But it's worth investigating." Daniel said as he picked up one of the sconces. "Try plugging it in?"

Sarah nodded and picked up one of her own, while still not completely convinced Rodney nevertheless picked up the third.

"One at a time?"

"I'll go first. This goes here?" Daniel said stepping forward to the first opening in the wall.

"There should be matching serial number thing in the slot." Rodney told him.

Nodding, Daniel checked that he had the right combination of scone and socket. Satisfied that he was correct, he plugged his sconce in. The light worked perfectly once plugged in, even making a humming tone as it lit up.

"I don't think they normally do that. Do they, Rodney?"

"No they don't." Rodney said, looking puzzled as he slid in his own sconce which produced a different hum.

Sarah quickly reattached hers as well, eliciting yet another unique hum from the device.

"Maybe they're just broken?" Rodney suggested.

"No, it's a puzzle. I think we need to activate these in a specific order."

"What, you mean like a three digit code?" Rodney scoffed. "You know how easy that would be to break? There's only six variations."

"Maybe we need to activate them a number of times in a specific order. I don't suppose you recognize any of these three notes?" Daniel asked, looking at Sarah.

"No, sorry. I'm afraid not. All I know about music, as you well know, is that I dislike modern Pop."

"Had to try my luck."

"Well, Janus's assistant said he disappeared pretty quickly down the hallway, so it can't be a long code. Maybe it's just as simple as three tones in a row?"

"Go for it." Rodney suggested with a bored shrug as he wandered further down the hall while Daniel played with variations of the order of the tones, waiting for something to happen.

They were at it for a few minutes when he suddenly called out, "Hold on for a second."

Turning to him, Sarah found Rodney at the end of the hall, pressing against the wall and looking puzzled.

"What is it?"

"One of you come here and push against this wall."

"Why?" Daniel asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Please, just…humor me. I think I'm onto something."

Sighing, Sarah went over to the wall while Rodeny went over to try his hands at the musical sconces.

"Okay, on the count of three, I want you to push against the wall as hard as you can, okay?"

"Alright."

"Okay, one…two…three."

Sarah shoved against the wall as Rodney tapped each sconce as he walked by them from left to right, each tone becoming slightly higher. He'd just triggered the last sconce when suddenly the wall she'd been pressing against lost all firmness and she fell right through.

She found herself in a small, well-lit room littered with artifacts of every description and dominated by a single large Lantean computer terminal.

"Sarah? You alright?" Daniel cried out urgently as he came _through _the wall.

"I'm fine." Sarah assured him as she got to his feet with a chivalrous helping hand from her boyfriend. "I think we've found it."

"Janus' secret lab." Rodney crowed triumphantly as he too stepped into the lab. "_I've_ found it."

Both Sarah and Daniel rolled their eyes at their friend and his ego.

"So what was that wall?" Sarah asked as she went back to the wall and touching the now suddenly very solid wall again. "How did it let us in and suddenly turn impermeable again?"

"This is just my guess at this point but I'm betting that this wall was specially designed to destabilize when bombarded with a very specific harmonic resonance. That's what the tones were!" McKay gushed as he too tapped the wall. "And the strong magnetic property of the particles is what keeps the door from just crumbling into dust. It's a great way to hide a door, because, you know, if you're looking for a door to open, it's never going to be found. It's like a hologram, only better because it-it's solid mass until the tones are playing."

"That's great and all," Daniel cut in. "But how do we get out when we want to?"

Sarah did a quick survey of the room and found a single wall sconce by the 'door'. Smiling she tapped it lightly, triggering the required harmonic resonance.

"Ladies first," Rodney said with a coy grin.

Rolling her eyes again, she walked through the permeable wall and was soon joined by the two men.

"I'll go report that we've succeeded." Sarah said, walking towards the nearest transporter. "You two get started on doing what I _know _you're both dying to do and go through that lab."

* * *

Even as the long abandoned secret lab of the Ancient inventor Janus was rediscovered, Elizabeth and Carson were on board the _Daedalus_ as it along with a small escort fleet traveled through hyperspace to meet with Todd to discuss the introduction among his alliance of the retrovirus that would remove the Wraith's need to feed. With the news of the Neo Ugarit Disaster, the Coalition felt that reaching out towards Todd as a potential ally was more important than ever as making the Expedition less reliant on resources from the Milky Way would allow the Coalition to more quickly recover from its losses. Thus with the retrovirus largely perfected, it was hoped that it would serve as a suitable bargaining chip with which to convince the Wraith into forming an alliance.

"Elizabeth, you think this'll really work?" Carson asked as the two finished going over their presentation of their proposal to Todd.

"I don't know Carson," Elizabeth confessed. "What I _do _know is that we have to try."

"Because the Coalition ordered it?"

"No, because if there's ever a chance to forge peace we _need _to seize it."

* * *

"You know, it's almost dawn." Daniel asked McKay, looking up from one of the viewscreens in Janus' lab that was displaying a portion of the extensive notes the ancient scientist had kept on his experiments and stored on the lab's isolated computer. "If you want to call it a night, it's uh…"

"What? No, no, no. I'm fine. Fine. But, you know, if you need to rest, I'll completely understand."

"Seriously? I-i-is everything a competition with you?" Daniel asked, his words slurring slightly as he fought a yawn.

Before McKay could reply, the intercom blared to life.

"_Red alert! I repeat, red alert! All personnel to combat positions! Vanir craft has been detected in the Lantean atmosphere and making a beeline for_ Atlantis." Chuck from Stargate Ops said over the lab's hidden speakers. "_I repeat, red alert!"_

"The Vanir?" Daniel asked, shocked to full wakefulness by this sudden development.

"I don't care who it is." McKay shouted, looking incensed. "What I want to know is how they get past our hyperspace interdiction? _I_ tuned the interdictors we use myself!"

* * *

While nowhere as indignant as Dr. McKay, the same question crossed Hermóðr's mind as he vectored the _Hala _onto an intercept course for the small high-speed Vanir ship racing towards _Atlantis_.

"Vanir vessel," Hermóðr said on a broadband hail in the direction of the intruder. "You are violating Expedition airspace. Cease your attempt to approach _Altantis _at once or be fired upon."

Upon receiving no reply, Hermóðr grit his teeth and fired a pair of particle beams. The warning shots hit the ocean on either side of the Vanir ship and threw up huge plumes of steam. This didn't hinder the small ship at all and it sped undeterred into the air defense zone of _Atlantis _whose anti-aircraft batteries of various types promptly opened fired. Proving itself incredibly nimble however, the ship weaved its way through the fire easily enough and passed through the Ancient cityship's shields like they weren't even there.

"How?" Hermóðr asked involuntarily even as the _Hala_'s computer informed him that the Vanir were utilizing Ancient IFF codes.

Once inside the shield, the small craft began beaming down what Hermóðr could only imagine was an invasion force of some kind even as it continued to evade the intensifying anti-aircraft fire that was being thrown up against it.

_They can't possibly have beamed down a particularly large force. Definitely not enough to take the City, so what are they really after?_

* * *

"Hurry up!" Rodney said to Jackson as he raced towards the nearest transporter. "I need to get up to Stargate Ops and you need to get somewhere safe."

"I know," Jackson said as he followed along more cautiously. "But blinding rushing is dangerous. Or didn't you hear the warning about invaders?"

"What's the chances we run into-"

"McKay! Watch out!"

"Wha-" A wheezing blue bolt over that barely missed him had Rodney jerking back in surprise and spinning around to see someone in humanoid powered armor with a large number of moving parts pointing an energy pistol at him.

"Back to the lab!" Rodney shouted as he turned tail, blue bolts wheezing after him.

Jackson didn't reply, he was already sprinting as quickly as he could ahead of him. Tapping the sconces as he passed, the archaeologist activated the hidden door into Janus' lab and run right through, Rodney right on his tail.

"W-We should be safe here."

"Yeah," Jackson agreed. "Any idea what the Vanir want?"

"Your guess is as good as mine."

The sound of burning cut off any further conversation and both men turned to the sealed door into the lab. A door which now sported a growing burn mark.

"Get down," Jackson shouted as he pushed them both to the ground, narrowly avoiding the laser that shot through the wall. Within seconds the beam cut a large circular section out of the wall, through which a trio of powered armored Vanir stepped through.

"We surrender!" Rodney said immediately, putting his hands up.

Next to him Jackson sighed, but likewise did the same.

The Vanir didn't seem satisfied though and promptly shot them. As Rodney passed out thanks to the stunner, the last thing he saw was one of the Vanir moving to a stack of uncatalogued artifacts and pick up a large something with a glowing red display.

_They came here for that? I wonder what that is..._

* * *

As the Vanir secured what they'd come for, Hermóðr could only watch helplessly as the nimble ship of his estranged brethren continued to jink and dodge through _Atlantis_' anti-aircraft fire. It could not evade the relentless and sustained fire forever however. It took just one glancing blow to the ship's port engine pod and it was all over. Damaged and unable to maneuver with its previous nimbleness, the ship was quickly torn to pieces by the cityship's defenses.

"New Vanir contact detected." The _Hala_'s computer informed him suddenly.

Reacting quickly, Hermóðr spun his _O'Neill _around and fired a brace of its particle beams at the incoming Vanir ship. But displaying the same impressive maneuverability that had allowed its sister ship to weave unharmed through _Atlantis_' anti-aircraft fire for a good five minutes, the enemy craft easily evaded his attack and like its earlier counterpart passed through the cityship's shields unhindered.

Unlike said counterpart it did not stay to test its mettle against _Atlantis_' formidable defenses. Instead, quickly beaming up the forces its predecessor had deployed into the city, it shot back out of the shield and into hyperspace, barely evading another brace of the _Hala_'s beams in the process.

* * *

"Where are we?" Daniel asked their captors as they beamed down into what was clearly a Lantean outpost. "This isn't one of your installations."

"No, it is not." The Vanir leader said. "It is an Alteran outpost located on a world your Expedition has designated M6H-987."

"And why have you brought us here?" McKay asked.

"We want you to activate the Attero Device for us," the Vanir leader said as one of his subordinates installed the artifact they'd taken from Janus' lab into a matching slot on a console that filled most of the room. "Do so and we will free you. Fail to comply Dr. McKay and we will kill Dr. Jackson."

_So that's why they brought me along. Collateral. _Daniel thought with a sigh.

"And what exactly is this Attero Device?"

The Vanir ignored McKay's question and instead moved to leave the room.

"What! Don't you know that knowing exactly what this device is will help me get it working faster?"

"It will not," the Vanir leader said as he stepped out of the room, "You after all already familiar with such technology."

At that it sealed the door, leaving the two men alone in the room.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Daniel asked with a frown.

"I don't know," McKay said, already fiddling with the computer. "But give me a minute and I'll find out."

* * *

Aboard the _Daedalus_, negotiations were going apace.

"So you'll agree to try the retrovirus?" Elizabeth asked.

"In exchange for the material and military support from your Expedition that you outlined? Yes. But only on a limited trial basis." The Wraith known as Todd replied.

"Good, then let's discuss the details of these trai-"

"I beg your pardon," Todd's aide said as he rushed into the room and over to his superior's side.

Whatever he said must have been quite upsetting for the previously amicable Todd quickly frowned. Quickly whispering a reply to his aide who rushed out to relay whatever order he'd been given, he turned to Elizabeth.

"One of our facilities is under attack by a rival hive. Our two support ships must depart for battle. My hive will remain here so that we may continue negotiations."

"Of course," Elizabeth offered a diplomatic nod. "Why don't we adjourn to the bridge and see your ships off?"

Todd raised an eyebrow at that but nevertheless allowed it as Elizabeth guided him, and his omnipresent pair of Ohne guards, as they headed to the _Daedalus_' bridge. They arrived just in time to see the two cruisers that had accompanied his Hive ship to this meeting break formation and open a hyperspace window. As they try to enter hyperspace however they were blasted apart and reduced to dust.

"Colonel Pendergast, what the hell just happened?" Elizabeth asked, shocked by this development.

"How did you do that?" Todd said sounding horrified

"How did we…?! Surely, you don't think we had anything to do with that-"

"You tricked me." The Wraith as he slowly turned to glare at them all.

"We did not." Elizabeth insisted. "We're just as confused by what's going on as you-"

"This was your plan all along. Somehow, you've found the Attero device!"

Todd raised his hand, each of which held a glowing stick and before anyone could stop him proceeded to slam them into each other. The moment the two sticks made contact, an energy wave surged forth that stunned almost everyone on the bridge into unconsciousness.

Everyone that is but his two Ohne guards who promptly charged him and despite his best efforts, quickly restrained him.

* * *

"I can't believe the Device was just a galaxy wide hyperspace inhibition field!" McKay gripped for as they languished in their cell - a large empty room - which they'd been moved into after he'd activated the Attero Device. "Yeah, it's got galactic range but it's tuned to only affect the Wraith's hyperdrives! And is fundamentally flawed."

"Galactic range isn't something to sneeze at," Daniel told him. "And what's this flaw?"

"The radiation the interdictor field produces in subspace as a side effect will cause any activated Stargates to overload causing them to detonate in titanic explosions." McKay told him almost dismissively. "How the hell did the Ancients not work out _that _kink?"

"Maybe because experimenting on how to do so would cause Stargates to explode?"

McKay blinked for a moment before nodding. "I hadn't actually thought of that. That would be a good reason not to try their luck. Though, I'm surprised that we younger races have actually surpassed the Ancients technologically in hyperspace inhibition."

"Well, it's not really that surprising." Daniel said with a shrug. "The technology _was _developed by Nimue after all. If anyone was able to manage it, it would be her. Besides the Asgard's beaming technology surpasses the Ancients too."

"The Asgard don't count. They aren't a younger race."

"I suppose not. But serious question, how much longer?"

"Almost. There. Got it." McKay says he looked up from where he'd been tinkering with the door controls that they'd pried open a wall panel to access.

"Nothing's happening." Daniel pointed out.

"Okay, maybe this?" McKay said crossing some wires and causing sparks to fly.

This time the door did open.

"Good job, McKay."

* * *

"Well played, Dr. Weir." Todd said in greeting as Elizabeth entered his cell in the _Daedalus_' brig. "You chose those Ohne as my guards because their different physiology makes them immune to our stun weapons didn't you?"

"I did." Elizabeth agreed. "I've learned to never be too cautious when dealing with your kind."

"A wise choice." Todd agreed. "My Hive?"

"Is holding position. They've been told if they move an inch our ships will destroy their ship. Considering we outgun it by a significant margin I think they'll obey."

"They will. They aren't suicidal."

"I thought as much." Elizabeth agreed. "Now mind telling me what the Attero Device is and why it's causing Stargates to explode whenever they're activated?"

"It's a device located on the world you call M6H-987. It is a galactic scale hyperspace interdictor targeted at my kind's hyperdrives. One with the side effect of causing all active Stargates to overload. It was, as you've seen, highly effective against my people's forces however it's side effect meant the Lanteans never moved beyond testing it. They truly were too soft hearted for their own good."

"You let such a device continue to exist?" Elizabeth asked, disbelieving.

"We only discovered the Device's existence and location _after _the war with the Lanteans and we rummaged through some of their other labs, by which time the world had already firmly fallen within Asuran space."

"It isn't anymore." Elizabeth frowned as he referred to a tablet to review the world's location now. "It's-"

"In space you've 'liberated' from the machines."

"I'll have a task force sent to the planet to destroy the device immediately." Elizabeth told him as he indicated to the guard to open the force field that separated her from the Wraith. "Tell your alliance to hold their positions and not activate their hyperdrives until we confirm its destruction. We _will _handle this."

"Why?" A flabbergasted looking Todd asked.

"Why what?"

"Why help us? Especially after what I tried to do?"

"Because, we want this alliance between us to work."

* * *

"Exiting hyperspace." the _Hala_'s computer informed Hermóðr as the blue of hyperspace faded away and was replaced by the view of a starfield. "All ships accounted for and in formation."

Nodding at the confirmation, he glanced at his tactical display and as expected spotted Vanir ships in the planet's orbit. A whole dozen of them.

_The Technical Sciences Department will need to rework our sensors _again _after this. _Hermóðr thought absently as he wordlessly ordered his small flotilla to close on the Vanir ships. _Hopefully we can provide them with ample samples of whatever stealthy system the Vanir are using._

"Vanir vessels, you are vastly outnumbered and outgunned. Surrender now or be destroyed for violating Expedition space." Hermóðr said on a wide spectrum hail. "This will be your only warning."

"Enemy vessels are closing to engagement range." The _Hala _informed him.

_So they choose to fight. _Hermóðr thought with a sad blink of his eyes.

"Beam the ground team down into the facility." Hermóðr ordered his computer.

"Ground team is away."

"Then let us clear the skies."

* * *

To call the fight that followed even a skirmish would be exceedingly generous. The Vanir craft might have been nimble but against no less than thirty capital ships and hundreds of strike craft, they stood no chance. Within seconds, three of their cylindrical ships were destroyed and things just kept going downhill for them from there. By the time the Expedition strike craft got within range there were only four enemy ships left. It was over in less than five minutes.

* * *

Whilst the short space battle took place Sheppard, Ronon and Teyla led a force down to rescue Rodney and Dr. Jackson. There had been a handful of the Vanir in their powered armor to take care off but nothing a few dozen marines and his team couldn't handle. The real problem was finding the two good doctors in the maze that was the Ancient outpost.

"Sheppard! Over here." Ronon shouted from down the hall.

Rushing over with Teyla in tow they found themselves looking through a small window into a sealed door as two figures in Vanir powered armor weathered the rampant electrical discharges in what Sheppard could only assume was the Attero Device's core room.

"Is that them?" Sheppard asked as he tried to force the door open.

"Unless you think that any of the Vanir would risk their lives to stop this Device, then it's them." Ronon replied as he too struggled to lift the door.

"Colonel, stop!" One of the scientists attached to the marines shouted as he ran over. "The levels of radiation my sensors are picking up on the other side of that door is deadly! If you open that door, you'll cook us all alive!"

Sheppard let go of the door like he'd been scalded. Ronon doing much the same.

"Then Rodney and Doctor Jackson?"

"The Vanir powered suits should protect them." The scientist reassured Teyla. "So long as they don't get hit by one of those electrical discharges, they should be fine."

"They're taking out crystals from that thing in the centre," Ronon said pointing at the two figures inside the reactor room. "Will that turn the machine off?"

"That's the subspace antenna, so theoretically yes."

"Theoretically?" Sheppard asked sternly, causing the scientist to quail.

"U-Um, I can't be sure. It's not like I have a blueprint for this thing."

"They've got it out." Teyla said. "The thing is shutting down. I think it worked."

It was just as she said that when one of the electrical discharges caught one of them, causing him to collapse.

"Shit! Beam whoever that is onboard the _Daedalus_. Now!" Sheppard ordered. "And someone else go rip the ZPMs out of this place and then plant the charges. I want this place reduced to rubble yesterday!"

* * *

"The Attero Device has been destroyed." Elizabeth informed Todd via subspace comms from the bridge of the _Daedalus_. The Wraith having been allowed to return to his own Hive ship.

"_You have my thanks."_ the Wraith said with a respectful nod.

"I take it then our alliance still stands."

"_Indeed," _Todd agreed. "_It begins quite fortuitously too. I look forward to continue working with you and your Expedition."_

Satisfied, Elizabeth gestured to Colonel Pendergast to cut the connection. She had other more pressing things to deal with beyond brokering an alliance with the Wraith right now. Such as, coming up with what to do about the problem that the Vanir had just proven themselves to be.

* * *

_Ten million dead. _Hermóðr thought to himself for the umpteenth time. That was the deaths that the Attero Device had caused in its brief period of operation by the Vanir. Ten million innocent lives taken because of the actions of his kin. The guilt gnawed at his soul just thinking about it.

A guilt that all his people felt.

It was thus not surprising that shortly after the Device's destruction that Hermóðr received direct orders from Thor and the Asgard High Council himself to apprehend the Vanir. He thus found himself in his current situation of being at the head of a specially dispatched squadron of Asgard ships consisting of ten _O'Neill_s and twenty eight _Bilskirnir_s that had been sent from Ida specifically to hunt down and arrest the Vanir.

Using the new upgrades to their sensors that the Expedition's Technical Sciences Department had made, the hunt was surprisingly short. It seemed their cousins had been highly reliant on their stealth technology to keep themselves safe from the Wraith and Asurans. Having overcome their stealth, a process that took only a week of studying recovered samples of the Vanir's stealth generators from the Skirmish of M6H-987, they had detected their homeworld almost immediately.

"Exiting hyperspace." The _Hala _reported as his squadron exited the alternate dimension and entered orbit over a planet with a dangerously toxic atmosphere upon which the unmistakable signatures of dozens of Vanir stealth generators could be detected.

"Any signs of ships?"

"Negative. No vessels are detected in the system except those of the friendly formation."

_Did they send all their ships into battle over M6H-987? Surely not._

"Relay to all ships to remain vigilant. They might be in wait somewhere to ambush us."

"Orders relayed."

Satisfied, Hermóðr took a moment to prepare himself for the unpleasant task ahead.

"To all Vanir," the Asgard commander said through a hail he knew his erstwhile brethren could hear. "I am Hermóðr of the Asgard Fleet. On direct orders of the High Council I am here to demands your surrender and that you answer for you crimes against intelligent life."

"_Be gone, Asgard." _A vocal only reply came in response. "_You have no authority here."_

"Multiple ship launches detected from planetary surface. Counting eighteen hostile vessels."

"Stand down and surrender," Hermóðr pleaded. "Your ships are outgunned. You cannot win this fight. Surrender and I ensure that you'll all receive a fair trial."

Hermóðr received no reply from the Vanir.

"Hostile ships are opening fire."

Hermóðr closed his eyes as he gave an order that broke his heart. "Return fire."

Like the Skirmish of M6H-987, the battle was over quickly. Grossly outmatched, the Vanir ships lasted barely five minutes against the vastly superior Asgard vessels. But that was not the end of the tragedy.

"Receiving a hail from the surface."

"On screen."

"_Hermóðr of the Asgard Fleet_." A furious looking Vanir said as the audiovisual link was established. "_Know that what happens next is your fault. Our deaths, the death of the Vanir is on your hands."_

"Deaths? What are-"

"Multiple explosions detected on the surface." The Hala reported and Hermóðr spun to his tactical display and watched in horror as one by one the markers indicating the Vanir installations winked out of existence.

"Why!?"

"_We will not live to be examples by the oh so righteous Asgard High Council." _The apparent Vanir leader spat. "_Let them join you in carrying the burden of our dea-"_

His last words were cut off as he was consumed by an explosion.

For a long moment, Hermóðr just sat in his seat stunned and horrified at what had transpired. Before at last it became too much and he gave a keening wail as grief overtook him.

* * *

"You gave me quite a scare, Daniel." Sarah told her boyfriend as she visited him in the _Atlantis _infirmary.

"I'll try not to do it again in the future," Daniel told her seriously.

"I appreciate that." Sarah said with a grateful smile. "So how are you feeling?"

"Alright for someone who was badly injured enough to need a stint in a Sarcophagus."

"Those do heal almost anything," Sarah said with a chuckle.

"That they do, which is why it's cruel and unusual punishment for Carson to insist I spend a night here for observation."

"It's standard procedure for all Sarcophagus use and you know it."

"I guess," Daniel said with a playful pout.

Sarah chuckled at his antics.

"Sarah, did you bring that box I asked you to?"

"The one from your luggage?" Sarah asked as she pulled a wooden chest and passed it to the man. "That's the one right?"

"Yup," Daniel confirmed as he opened the chest and took out a smaller box from inside. A box that the sight of which, had Sarah's heart beating more quickly.

_Is that what I think it is?_

Setting the chest aside, Daniel turned to face her and popped the box open. Inside, resting on a cushion was a beautiful ring. It was made of platinum and its centerpiece was a single teardrop shaped black diamond bordered by a series of smaller white diamonds. Even with the prices of rare metals and gems having plummeted with Disclosure and access to offworld sources, it must still cost a fortune.

"This is-"

"A gift from my friend Nim," Daniel confessed. "She offered it when she heard, somehow, that I was having trouble finding a ring. She designed it herself."

Sarah's eyes nearly popped out of her head. This was a specially designed gift from the Mother Empress of Albion! This ring wasn't just worth a fortune, it was absolutely priceless!

"D-Daniel," Sarah stuttered, still overcome by the treasure she was looking at. "A-Ask."

Smiling softly in that adorable way only he could manage, Daniel looked her straight in the eyes.

"Sarah, will you marry me?"

"Yes, you silly man. Of course, I will."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done!
> 
> It's another long chapter, so I hope everyone appreciates it.
> 
> Alright, first thing to address is that I reused or adapted a lot of the dialogue from the canon episodes First Contact and The Lost Tribe. I did this mainly because I didn't want to reinvent the wheel and since I'm covering the same events essentially, I just did the easy thing. I would like to thank the episode transcripts on SGCommand for making this possible.
> 
> Second, why did the Vanir commit mass suicide like that? Simple, it seems to me that's what Asgard (and the Vanir are still Asgard) would do when at wits end. Just look at what the Asgard did in canon when put in a similar no win situation. That and I just wanted to pay homage to that particular canon plot point.
> 
> Thirdly, Daniel finally proposed! Yeah, it's a long time coming but sometimes finding that perfect ring is hard and takes a while. Jackson should just be glad he's got a friend like Nim to help him out there. She's awesome like that.
> 
> Well, that's it for the chapter. Till next time sé þig aftur!


	31. Weapons Testing - Repurposed Toys

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of the IPs from which any imported elements may originate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Pegasus War**

**Chapter Thirty One: Weapons Testing - Repurposed Toys**

**Beta: **

* * *

It was a balmy evening on the Lantean mainland as AR-1 and AR-15 filed into the Crossroads Tavern after a long day of helping the survivors of a Wraith culling that the former had rescued from the unimaginatively named Elson's Planet settle into one of the many settlements full of former refugees that had sprung up on the continent.

"Hello Terence, the usual?" Yelana asked the moment his team stepped into the bar.

"Yup, bosslady! Ya Lacuan ale is the best!" Yod answered for them.

Chuckling at her nickname for her, Terence's girlfriend turned to Colonel Sheppard even as she showed them all to a table.

"And what about your team, Colonel?"

"I don't suppose you have any Heinekens?"

"As a matter of fact, we do." Yelana told him with a grin. "The guildmaster has set up quite a lucrative deal with Dr. Weir for a supply of some of the more popular Earth beverages."

"Really?" Sheppard asked, surprised. "I didn't know that."

"You should've paid more attention in the senior staff meetings then," McKay said with a snort. "It's been brought up. Regularly. Sarah insists it's a good way to help relations."

"Well, I certainly think it is." Sheppard said as they settled into their seats. "So four Heinekens for my team? Unless someone wants something else?"

"I'm good." Ronon said with a nod.

"I as well." Teyla concurred.

"Anything's good for me. I'm not fussy."

Everyone made sounds of disbelief at that. Even Yelana.

"About my beer." McKay protested. "I meant about my beer!"

"Fine, fine, Rodney." Sheppard said distractedly as he turned to address Yelana. "That's about it. Maybe some finger food too though, any recommendations?"

"The Seeru Fries are pretty good." Terence opined, his team expressing their agreement. "Seeru's pretty much a local analogue to potato."

"Then let's go with a plate of that than."

"I'll get you two plates." Yelana suggested. "With nine people. You'll need it."

"Alright. Nine?"

"Colonel Sheppard, did you expect me to give up on the chance to spend some time with my betrothed?"

"Uh, no?"

Chuckling at the flabbergasted look on the Colonel's face, Yelana went to prepare their order.

"So when did your betrothed become so assertive?" Teyla asked, her eyes trailing Yelana until she disappeared into the kitchens. "She used to be quite shy I believe."

"What you're seeing Teyla is the confidence of a woman who knows she's gotten a good man." Wrex told them. "That and a little cultural osmosis, I believe I'm using that term correctly, from our friends from Earth."

"Couldn't have happened to a nicer girl." Ronon said gruffly. "You're lucky Major, you know that?"

"I am," Terence said with a nod.

"Of course he does. We remind him about it everyday." Yod said teasingly.

"Really?" McKay asked, looking surprised.

"We do." Larry confirmed.

"It's a brother's duty." Wrex added with a mischievous grin.

"Nice team you've got there, Major." Sheppard said with a chuckle.

"I could say the same for you," Yelana said as she returned with their orders, which Terence promptly helped her distribute. "Your adventures are the stuff of bard's tales you know that?"

"What does that have to do with having a good team?" McKay asked, blinking in confusion.

"She's saying we keep getting into trouble, Rodney." Sheppard clarified for him.

"Oh. Well she isn't wrong."

Sheppard groaned but everyone just chuckled.

"So mind sharing about that fiasco with that upstart Coalition of Planets?" Yelana asked as she took a seat next to Terence and snuggled into his side. "Everyone's been saying they attempted to put the Expedition on trail in their kangaroo court by abducting your team."

"It's true," Teyla admitted. "Dr. Weir even had to call in Mr. Woolsey from Earth, the best lawyer available at short notice within the Homeworld Defense Organization, to serve as the Expedition's defense attorney and win the trail."

"Not that it mattered." Wrex said with a snort. "It wasn't like this Coalition of Planets could realistically do anything to the Expedition. Not when it didn't have a single ship to its name and the Expedition deployed an entire fleet over the planet they were holding their sham of a trail on after tracking AR-1 down thanks to their subcutaneous subspace locator beacons."

"A whole fleet?" Yelana gasped.

"Dr. Weir doesn't mess around." Terence said by way of confirmation.

"No she doesn't." Sheppard agreed. "Not when they were threatening to cut off trade with us, risking starvation."

"I do not believe that was quite as serious as you think, John." Teyla told him. "The Coalition of Planets barely represented a dozen worlds. We have the support of an entire galaxy back in the Milky Way and hundreds of liberated planets here in the Pegasus. In comparison, their influence was miniscule."

"Yeah, but winning the trail was a good PR move for the Expedition among the Pegasus natives." Yod said cynically.

"I'm not sure it did," Larry countered. "The Expedition Native Corps' response was quite heavy handed. They _did _proceed to dismantle the so-called Coalition of Planets for its presumption to speak for the whole Pegasus."

"I assure you that it was justified." Wrex said with an angry frown. "Those pompous fools were trying to betray the galaxy's greatest liberators and saviours."

"And undermine the Coalition of Free Peoples' trust in us, their Pegasus allies." Teyla added heatedly.

"They deserved what they got." Yelana chimed in as well.

"I suppose they did," Sheppard said placatingly. "So, um, let's talk about something else. I dunno, uh, the encounter with the Sekkari Seed Carrier while exploring the ocean of the Alpha Site on M35-117? That was interesting, wasn't it?"

"If you like hallucinations." McKay commented with a shudder. "What's with Pegasus aliens and inducing hallucinations anyways?"

"At least, it was benign for once. Mostly." Ronon offered even as Teyla shifted uncomfortably at the reminder of hallucination causing aliens. One such alien had after all killed one of her close friends, Dr. Heightmeyer.

"Yeah, yeah." McKay allowed. "At least it's got the astrobiologists all excited."

"Can you blame them?" Terence asked. "It's not everyday that they get to help a race of silicon-based lifeforms rebuild their civilization. Heck, when the Gadmeer learned about the whole thing they even Gated in a whole troop of their scientists eager to put their expertise in reviving long dead civilizations to good use."

"Yeah." McKay agreed. "The Seed Carrier AI was ecstatic when it learned about that, you know?"

"Of course it would be," Sheppard said with a shake of his head. "With their help what would have been a process subject to random chance has pretty much become a guaranteed thing."

"Being able to fulfill one's life mission to such an extent? I would be too, if I was in that situation." Larry opined.

"I'm just glad I don't have to babysit the damned thing." McKay said with a shake of his head. "Even with the Gadmeer's help, the project is going to take years. Plus, the reports on the world the alien AI selected as being a prime site for reviving its creators doesn't sound in anyway hospitable for humans. The team has to operate from ships! I don't want to be stuck on a ship for years!"

"_Atlantis_ is technically a ship," Yod needled. "You know that right?"

"Is being stuck on it for too long why you decided to take a trip back to Earth?" Larry asked, playing along. "You even brought Miss Norina for your get away, didn't you?"

"If it was, then I don't think he planned for having to shut down an out of control weather-control device." Ronon said, joining in on the teasing.

"Oh! Shove it you lot!"

Everyone chuckled at McKay's expense for a moment.

"Seriously though Rodney, how _did _things go before the device go out of control?" Teyla asked. "There was a reception of your world's greatest scientists, wasn't there? You never did tell us whether that was going well before things got out of hand."

"It went okay," McKay said with a shrug. "Norina's beauty shocked the hell out of all those other arrogant attendees."

"Weren't they wowed by the great Rodney McKay, greatest scientist in the Pegasus galaxy?" Ronon asked, only half teasing.

"Terrified actually," McKay admitted. "My achievements made me quite the pariah. Many of them are radical pacifists and hate the idea that I'm working for the military. If not for Norina I don't think anyone would have talked to me."

"Norina's charm does make up for much of your abrasiveness." Teyla agreed.

"Yeah, I know." McKay admitted. "She's my better half. I'd be so much worse off without her."

"Can't disagree with that," Sheppard agreed with a chuckle. "You two made a helluva a team. Saved the lives of hundreds even."

"That's nothing new." McKay hedged. "We do that all the time here in the Pegasus."

"Sure, But not in front of all your peers in the scientific community." Sheppard countered. "You know the people you're totally obsessed with one upping?"

"Maybe, but I doubt Dr. McKay enjoyed playing hero at what you thought was a black tie event." Terence chimed in to defend the increasingly flustered scientist.

"No, I didn't." McKay agreed. "At least we managed to have a good time afterwards."

"I heard you two had a _very _fun time afterwards to be honest," Sheppard teased.

"From who?" McKay demanded.

"Jeannie of course." Sheppard told him with a grin. "Apparently the two of you were so busy that you blew off spending time with her family?"

"That's a lie!" McKay insisted. "We spent a whole day with them! Norina even bought Madison a present."

"Yeah," Sheppard agreed. "But you two were apparently so distracted the whole time that you were, in her words, 'barely there'."

"Okay, that might be true." McKay conceded with a frown. "But you can't say knowing my girlfriend well didn't pay off. It helped loads when she ended up switching bodies with the thief Neeva Casol, thanks to the accidental activation of that Ancient long-range communication device, didn't it?"

"And it was good that you did," Teyla told him soothingly. "She could have done a great deal of damage if you hadn't."

"She _did_ stab Zelenka," McKay reminded everyone. "And she got Norina shot!"

"More damage Rodney."

"Yeah, I know. Just… you know." McKay drifted off.

"We know Rodney," Sheppard reassured the scientist. "So how is Norina dealing with the experience, by the way? It must have been very confusing."

"It was," McKay agreed. "But she's coping okay. A little strangely in actuality."

"How so?" Larry asked.

"She's taking pride in it." McKay explained with a sigh. "Apparently it's her first brush with crazy since she joined the Expedition."

"Well, she's not wrong." Yod admitted. "I can see how she'd have pride in that. Getting into a crazy situation is like a badge of pride for Expedition members."

"I still think it's a little weird."

"Rodney, I hope you didn't tell her that." Teyla warned.

"No, I'm not _that _clueless." McKay said defensively.

"Could've fooled me." Ronon opined, leading to sputtering from McKay and chuckles from everyone else.

"Anyways~!" McKay said loudly. "I wasn't the only clueless one this pass month was I? Carson was clueless that his retrovirus would cause so much chaos wasn't he?"

_That's how you change topics? To something so morbid? _Terence thought palming his face in exasperation.

"What chaos?" Yelana asked, tilting her head in that adorable way she did when she got curious. "I haven't heard anything about Dr. Carson _ever _causing trouble for anyone."

"He did. For the Wraith though, so it doesn't count." Wrex told his sister.

"Wrex!" Teyla chided. "They might be Wraith but they are our allies."

"For now," Ronon said ominously.

"Ronon!"

Seeing Yelana was still confused, Terence explained. "Dr. Carson has been working with a group of Wraith on developing a treatment, specifically a retrovirus, that will eliminate the need for them to feed on humans. The first trials ended up causing some rather nasty side effects."

"Nasty, Major? That's quite the understatement." Larry said with a shake of his head. "It compromised the immune systems of its subjects and inadvertently caused a virulent cancer-like disease among a large number of its recipients. These turned feral and caused a ruckus on their Hive ships."

"How is that a bad thing?"

"Because Yelana," Teyla chimed in before anyone could tell her it wasn't. "Unless we want to completely wipe out the Wraith, a tall order, then we need to somehow work out a peace with them and to do that we need allies among their ranks."

Yelana frowned but nodded.

"So did Dr. Carson fix the problem?"

"Just in the nick of time if Todd, their leader, is to be believed." Yod said with a skeptical roll of his eyes. "Apparently, the 'failure' of the retrovirus almost caused the collapse of his alliance. But Dr. Carson saved the day. Again."

"Now with the retrovirus' effect on Wraith immunity understood, the treatment has been refined to take that into account. Don't ask me how, but Carson says it's much safer now." McKay added. "End result is that our Wraith allies are still alive and soon won't be lifesuckers anymore."

"That's good news, I guess?"

"Yes, Yelana, it is." Terence said with a grin. "If everything keeps going so well, we might just win this war soon."

"Boss! You totally just jinxed us!"

"I did not!" Terence shouted back.

From there the gathering moved to more lighthearted topics of conversation. Though events transpiring elsewhere in the Pegasus would quickly prove Yod's statement correct.

* * *

"We've received a transmission from the Asurans?" Yuki asked incredulously as she read the data off the viewscreen in front of her in the Stargate Ops Room where she was serving as Duty Officer for the night.

"It appears so, mam." Chuck said with a nod. "I've run it through all our security filters twice and it's come back clean both times."

"Page Dr. Weir," Yuki told the technician. "And get me a standalone computer to read this."

"Here you go, mam." Amelia said as she handed Yuki a laptop.

Nodding her thanks, Yuki transferred the unopened Asuran transmission to the secured laptop and opened it. She was reading it a second time when Dr. Weir arrived.

"Yuki, what is it?"

"The Asurans just provided us with vital intelligence." Yuki said, barely being able to believe what she was saying.

"The Asurans!? Why would they provide us intelli- Wait! This is on the Wraith isn't it?"

"Yes," Yuki nodded, gesturing for Dr. Weir to read the transmission for herself. "Apparently, it's come to their knowledge that during our joint attack on Asuras with the Wraith some time ago, the lifesuckers managed to get away with a number of the Replicator's ZPMs."

"So that's what those Darts they sent down to the surface were after."

"Indeed," Yuki said with a nod. "The Wraith have since used their stolen ZPMs, after having overcome spent the time since their acquisition overcoming compatibility issues, to enhance one of their Hive ships."

"Enhanced? How?"

"According to the Asurans, it's three times as large and much more heavily armed. With it they think that the Wraith plan to invade the Milky Way. It is not yet complete but it is close, but they're rushing it into service following its discovery by the Asurans."

"And you trust them?"

"We'll need to verify the intel, but tentatively I do trust its accuracy." Yuki acknowledged. "The Asurans readily admit that they are telling us this partially to buy some breathing space for themselves whilst we and the Wraith tear each other apart. That's a valid motivation."

Dr. Weir nodded.

"Nevertheless, get it checked out. And _when _you're sure it's legitimate, brief the senior staff. We'll need to come up with a strike plan."

"I'll get on it right away."

* * *

A week after receiving the Asuran intelligence and verifying its authenticity, Marc found himself leading a large detachment of the Expedition Fleet towards the remote rimward deep space location where the so-called Wraith Superhive was being constructed.

_Exiting hyperspace._The _Musashi_'s Pilot informed him dutifully as they transitioned back to normal space.

_Scan for enemies. We need to know what kind of escort that _thing _has._

Despite Yuki's best efforts, they had been unable to ascertain just what kind of forces the Superhive had at its disposal. It seemed that almost every known major Wraith faction had been attached to the project at some time, at least if the intel they'd received from Todd was to be believed. Including his own. That he had only shared it with them when they'd independently discovered the Superhive's existence had strained the already tense relations with him further.

_But we can worry about diplomatic relations with our erstwhile allies later. _Marc thought to himself. _Time to focus on the battle ahead._

_Chevalier, outside the Superhive I'm only detecting a dozen Hive ships and fifty nine cruisers. _The _Musashi_'s Pilot informed him, sounding stunned.

Turning to the tactical display to confirm it, Marc was likewise shocked by the small size of the escort fleet. That however did not stop him from capitalizing on the situation.

_Let's not look a gift horse in the mouth. All ships engage!_

At his command, his forces swarmed the vastly numerically inferior enemy fleet. As expected the outgunned, outnumbered standard Wraith ships began dying like flies. The same however could not be said about the Superhive.

_Shenlong III lost. _The Fleetmind reported yet another ship lost to that damnable Superhive. They'd all but eliminated its escorts already, but the accursed ship refused to fall. It's hull regeneration was insane, every time they scored a hit it practically repaired the damage right in front of their eyes.

_I really wish Dr. Weir allowed me to bring the Peacekeeper along right now. _

Unfortunately, it was not to be. With most of the Fleet's offensive capabilities allocated to this deployment, it was decided that the Mul'tak would remain behind just in case the enemy attacked elsewhere. Between its fold drive and its awesome firepower it made the perfect mobile reserve. He'd even agreed with that logic! However, as his forces were getting mauled by the Superhive, Marc was quickly revising that logic.

_Fleetmind! Loss estimates!_

_87 capitals lost. 127 severely damaged._

_That's a third of the fleet out of the fight already!?_ Marc sent back in alarm only to receive a wordless sense of agreement. _This attrition is unsustainable! Even if we win this fight, we'll be crippled afterwards._

That was if the losses didn't already amount to such a blow to the Fleet already.

_Order a retreat._

Heeding his order, the battered Expedition Fleet began recovering its strike craft and pulling away from the Wraith Superhive's powerful interdictor field. However, perhaps sensing blood in the water, the Wraith were unwilling to let them go so easily and began pursuing them.

_We are pulling away from pursuing Superhive. _The _Musashi _reported redundantly as Marc examined the tactical display like a hawk.

_At least it seems like its huge mass means its relatively slow, more powerful engines be damned. _Marc thought to himself.

_Remember to only keep the ships with the strongest shields at our rear. _Marc reminded the Fleetmind. _Let them soak up fire for the more damaged vessels._

_Affirmative. _The collective of his Ship Pilots replied, whilst simultaneously relaying the orders to the non-Chiropteran vessels in his command.

_Unusual activity from the Superhive. _The _Musashi _reported.

_I see it. _The Superhive had suddenly come to a stop and was beginning to turn away from pursuing the Expedition flotilla. _It's giving up the pursuit? Why?_

Even as he asked the question, the Superhive jumped into hyperspace.

* * *

Hours after the lost First Battle of the Superhive, the senior staff present on _Atlantis _gathered in the Stargate Ops conference room to be briefed by Marc on the disastrous attempt. By Yuki's own estimations, their losses were significant. Significant enough that they'd likely have to suspend offensive operations for the foreseeable future. At least until the damaged ships were repaired and at least some of their losses replaced.

The nod she received from Marc's holographic projection - he was still en route back to Lantea, a journey that was delayed by the need to conduct emergency repairs on some of the damaged ships - confirmed her fears.

_Damn it! We can't afford losses like this. Not when that Superhive is still on the loose._

"Alright, since we're all here so let's begin." Dr. Weir said once everyone was seated. "Marc, if you-"

"Actually, Elizabeth, I think I should go first." Dr. McKay cut in, his face grim.

Dr. Weir looked to Marc who shrugged before nodding at the scientist to continue.

"I've been reviewing sensor readings from the battle that were sent back for analysis and I think I've determined why the Superhive suddenly disengaged."

"_What was it?" _Marc asked curiously. "_It had us in its sights. It is uncharacteristic of the Wraith to abandon their prey in such circumstances."_

"I know," Dr. McKay said irritably. "If you'd let me continue?"

"_Apologies, Doctor. Please go ahead."_

"Thank you." The Head of Technical Sciences said sarcastically. "As I was saying, upon analysis there appears to be a signal among the background radiation of the battlefield. Specifically, a Wraith distress beacon. Based on elements of its signal composition, it seems to come from an alternate Earth. It was weak too. So weak that the Superhive probably was only able to detect it because of the enhancements the ZPM powered systems offered it."

"What kind of distress beacon are we talking about?" Sheppard asked with a frown. "I don't think the Wraith would change its plans just because they picked up a call for help from some lone Wraith."

"No they wouldn't." Ronon agreed.

"And they didn't." McKay said with a sigh, clearly annoyed by the interruptions. "This transmission not only contained the coordinates to Earth, which it seems the Wraith from the alternate reality don't know, but more importantly it included a detailed description of Earth's defenses. It's mostly wrong, mind you, since it seems to come from a universe very different from our own. But-"

"It doesn't matter. It's more than enough to entice the Wraith to action." Teyla said thoughtfully. "They know Earth is the seat of the Coalition. If they have a chance to destroy it-"

"They'll take it." Ronon agreed.

"_And that Superhive is dangerous enough all on its own, accurate understanding of Earth's defenses or not." _Marc added.

"Agreed." Dr. Weir said with a decisive nod. "I'll contact Earth and coordinate a response. We need to stop the Superhive from reaching Earth at all costs."

* * *

In orbit over Lantea, Albionian Fleet Lord Francis Drake waited aboard the _Peacekeeper _as the last ships assigned to the new task force sent after the Superhive assembled around his flagship in preparation for the space fold to the rendezvous point in the Pegasus-Milky Way Gulf to meet up with the elements of the Coalition Joint Fleet together with which they intend to confront the Superhive in the intergalactic void.

_Ah! This is the life! _Drake thought to himself with a grin. _Fighting dangerous battles! Exploring uncharted space in a new galaxy! I'm so glad I was able to convince Her Majesty to allow me to join the Expedition._

It had been no mean feat too. The Mother Empress was loathe to lose one of her finest Fleet Lords to the Atlantis Expedition. Especially since she did not particularly hold the Expedition in high regard at all, seeing it as superfluous at best and a waste of men and materiel at worse. But with persistence, he'd worn Her Majesty down and earned his spot in this great adventure. Hopefully, she'd be over her annoyance at him for his campaigning by the next time he saw her and he wouldn't get electrocuted for, in her words, 'being a pest'.

"My lord," his XO said, pulling him from his woolgathering. "All ships are in position."

"Then initiate fold." He ordered.

At his command, a bright yellow sphere of light rapidly expanded from the Mul'tak and quickly began to encompass the space within which the fleet assigned to accompany him occupied. Once every ship was within this fold bubble, it abruptly winked out of existence. It reappeared many millions of light years away in the intergalactic void where it burst like a soap bubble and deposited its occupants back in normal space.

"My lord," the sensor officer shouted to catch his attention. "Coalition Joint Fleet task force detected. We're reading one thousand and sixty three ships including eight Chiropteran _Douter_-class dreadnoughts, nine Fel'tak monitors, a dozen Mel'taks and the _Renouvelé _waiting for him."

"Incoming hail from the _Renouvelé_."

"On screen," Drake ordered the comms officer.

Seconds later, the image of the Hive Queens Amelia and Pamela lounging on the loveseat that was their command throne appeared on the central viewscreen of the _Peacekeeper_'s Pel'tak.

"Greeting, Lord Drake." Queen Amelia greeted politely. "It would seem we'll be serving alongside each other again."

"Greetings Your Majesties and it appears so."

"I just wish it wasn't in such circumstances."

"Unfortunately, fate has chosen to burden us with this duty."

"So it would seem. Tell me honestly, Lord Drake, do you think we'll be enough to stop that Superhive?" Queen Amelia asks him worriedly.

"We have two superdreadnoughts and twenty nine dreadnoughts at our command." Drake told her reassuringly. "I think that's more than enough firepower for a lone Superhive."

"I hope you're right Fleet Lord." Queen Pamela said joining the conversation, biting her lower lip nervously as she spoke. "I hope you're right."

_I hope so too._

* * *

"Captain, the Superhive has been detected coming out of hyperspace pause by the fleet's long range sensors." Tommen's sensors officer reported. "We're reading an escort fleet of a hundred Hive ships and three hundred and ninety two cruisers."

"It seems the Wraith have flocked to fight by its side after the last victory." His XO commented with a creased brow.

"Sir, it seems many of the ships' techno-organic hulls appear to be relatively immature." The sensors officer said. "They appear to be freshly grown."

"I see," Tommen said with a nod. "Tactical, mark those ships. Those younger ships will be vulnerable so we'll target them first."

"Yes, sir."

"Sir, orders from Fleet command." The comms officer reported. "Fleet Lord Drake says after we fold the dreadnoughts and super dreadnoughts will focus down the Superhive. All ships are to assist if possible but to primarily concern themselves with screening the dreadnoughts and super dreadnoughts."

"So, just as we expected?" Tommen asked rhetorically.

"So it would appear." His XO replied nonetheless.

"Sir, fold is in three."

"Load photon torpedoes! I want them flying at the nearest target the moment we exit fold!"

"Two."

_So it begins._

"One."

_Time to kill some Wraith._

* * *

_Fold complete. _The _Renouvelé_'s bridge's Worker collective reported back.

_Firing the Positron Super Cannon. _Rek'tor reported from where he was manning the _Renouvelé_'s tactical controls. Douter_s are firing their main guns as well._

"The _Peacekeeper _and the other Albion dreadnoughts are firing too." Surefoot added from where she manned the comms controls.

The reports were largely superfluous. Amelia didn't need them to see the devastation the squadron of Coalition super capitals were unleashing on the lone Superhive. Focusing their fire on the Wraith ship's rear, the antimatter cannons of the Chiropteran ships literally vaporized the entire engine block of the techno-organic ship and a good half of the mid section along with it. That might have been a better fate than the lifesuckers in the front sections of the ship enjoyed as the lightning like discharges of the Fel'taks and the _Peacekeeper_ played over them, causing explosions at seemingly random locations all across the hull. Openings that the Mel'taks exploited by firing a continent destroying rain of plasma bolts into opened compartments even as their plasma beams craved deep gashes into the wrecked ship.

"That was anticlimactic." Pamela noted with a pout. "I got worried over nothing."

"Yes, you did my Queen." Surefoot teased, earning herself a high heeled shoe thrown her way.

Ignoring her twin and her Chevalier as they began to roughhouse, Amelia turned to Rek'tor.

"Move us in to engage the rest of the Wraith." She ordered. "Let's finish this."

_As my Queen commands._

* * *

Inside his Tieren, Valdon watched and cheered as the destruction of the Superhive dominated his viewscreen. He wasn't the only one. The comm bands were flooded with ecstatic cheers as the monstrous enemy super dreadnought was sunk in a dramatic display of the Coalition's strength.

His celebration was cut short however as his computer beeped urgently.

Returning his attention to his immediate surroundings, Valdon cursed as a swarm of Darts rushed towards him and his squadron.

"_Hold position! It's only Darts, we can handle them." _Valdon's commander shouted over the comms as everyone in their unit began opening fire on the fragile Wraith fighters destroying them by the dozens.

_No Hunters or Enforcers? Usually one or two would pop out by now._

There was no sign of the Wraith mecha though, instead there was a Hive ship flying right for his squadron as it tried to make a desperate escape from the fighting.

"_Don't let it get away. Shoot it down!"_

_Easier said than done, commander. _Valdon thought but didn't say, instead focusing on firing on the approaching Wraith mothership. Half his shots were absorbed by suicidal Darts but he noticed that the shots that did get through were doing more damage than he expected. Even then it was not enough and he along with his squadron were forced to make way for the Wraith ship as it flew past their position.

It did not make it far however before a Albionian strike craft formation descended on it. Dozens of Rifleman IIs, more streamlined versions of their predecessors which ended up looking less knightly and more akin to a soldier, used their improved maneuverability to weave in and out of the Dart swarm surrounding the Wraith Hive ship providing effective escort for their heavier compatriots.

The larger of these were the Spitfire Mobile Suits with a prominent backpack and large shields built on swivel mounts into its shoulders. They unleashed hell with the array of heavy weapons they'd been equipped with, including an array of missile pods integrated into its backpack alongside a pair of small turreted fire-linked plasma as well as a powerful handheld Lightning Cannon that looked like a long rifle with two tines. Wherever they flew deadly yellow lightning like energy bolts that arced between the two prongs of their main gun before being fired at the enemy, destroyed dozens of Darts or whole sections of the Hive ship with each shot. This wasn't even counting the many, many Darts which died to their plasma or missile fire as they tried to capitalize on the Lightning Cannon's long recharge time. Occasionally, things got too hairy even for those weapons to keep the Wraith at bay at which point they transformed into a high speed Flight Mode where It's main weapon, shoulder shields and backpack connected to become a large saucer shape, with its legs swinging forward and transforming into claws. This angled the machine's reaction thrusters into optimum position to provide it maximum forward thrust, allowing them to fly away well past the speed of the Darts to intercept.

But even the Spitfires in Flight Mode paled in the face of the speed of the Hurricane interceptor typer Mobile Armors. These arrow shaped machines roughly twice the size of the old Tau'ri F-302s had a bulbous bulge midbody which contained the cockpit protected under layers of heavy armor and were surprisingly heavily armed for such a small craft. Their twin plasma repeaters built into the Mobile Armor's nose shot Darts to pieces by the score and the two-tube Missile Pod built into its dorsal spine allowed it to unload explosive ordinance directly into the Hive ship, tearing holes in its armor that it used to fire its underside mounted medium Particle Projector Cannon directly into its bowels.

Within a couple of minutes of this fierce assault, before Valdon's own squadron could even regroup, the Hive ship was reduced to a dead floating wreck and the Albionians moved on.

"_Ancestors!"_ Someone breathed in shock at the scene over the squadron channel. It could've been Valdon himself for all he knew. In that instant, all them were awestruck by that display of the children of Nimue's prowess.

He'd read the reports of the effectiveness of their machines, especially the new ones just on display, and the skill of their pilots but he'd never _seen _it for himself. There were precious few Albionian units attached to the Expedition and he'd not yet had the fortune to have fought beside one. Not until now.

Bright flashes of light in the distance had Valdon turning his attention back to the rest of the battle and his awe just grew. Before his eyes, the dreadnoughts and super dreadnoughts had just joined the fray and in a single demonstration of their fury on the Wraith fleet - minus the Chiropteran Hiveship whose main gun seemed to still be recharging - they had destroyed no less than half of the remaining Wraith capital ships. Some were outright disintegrated by Chiropteran antimatter beams, others were torn to pieces by bolts of orange lightning that played across their hulls and triggered chains of explosions.

_By the Ancestors! Thank goodness that they're on our side._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done!
> 
> A slightly shorter one compared to the last two. Hopefully, it's still enjoyable.
> 
> Alright, onto topics to discuss.
> 
> Firstly, I honestly considered splitting the chapter after the first scene but thought better of it. Doing so would have ruined the flow of the story I think. So tacked on it remains.
> 
> Second, the Superhive got taken out too easily? Maybe. But honestly, considering the kind of firepower that I've given Albionian and Chiropteran super capital ships this was a foregone conclusion. Now this begs the question, why don't they deploy more of them to the Pegasus and just end the war there then. Simple answer? Then they'll get backstabbed by Ba'al and the Goa'uld Remnant who have comparable super capitals of their own. Here's the thing, like I've said before the Pegasus is not an important front for either Albion or the Swarm.
> 
> Lastly, here's a visual guide for the new mecha I introduced this chapter:
> 
> Rifleman II = AMS-129 Geara Zulu from the Gundam franchise
> 
> Spitfire = based on the AMX-006 Gaza-D from the Gundam franchise
> 
> Hurricane = based off the MA-06 Val Walo from the Gundam franchise
> 
> Well, that's it for this chapter. Till next time vidimo se opet!


	32. Endgame - Exploiting Weaknesses

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of the IPs from which any imported elements may originate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Pegasus War**

**Chapter Thirty Two: Endgame - Exploiting Weaknesses**

**Beta: **

* * *

On a quiet night on Lantea, Yuki, the Atlantis Expedition's Head of Intelligence, sat in her apartment in the Lantean Hive Complex reviewing a proposal from Coalition High Command's Intelligence Department to exploit the Asuran veneration of Janus. An idea that had percolating among the Coalition Intelligence community since the origin of the Asurans had been confirmed, and which had only gained traction with the somewhat successful alliance the Expedition had forged with Todd's alliance of Wraith Hives.

And now after months of searching they'd made a breakthrough by locating Janus with the help of allied Ascended and convinced him to help the Expedition parlay with the Asurans.

_But is that even a good idea? For all we know he'd just order them to wipe us out. _Yuki thought to herself as she paced the room. _Then again how's that different from our current situation. I suppose we should take this risk._

But there were other considerations to take into account beyond just the Asurans.

_The Wraith will not let us succeed. It's a certainty that they'll sabotage this somehow. However, if we succeed… We'd take the Asurans out of the war… That's a reward we need to take this risk in order to earn. _

Sighing, she walked to her desk and took a seat. It was time to write up a proposal for Dr. Weir.

* * *

A week later, Elizabeth stood in front of the Stargate with the rest of the Expedition senior staff as a tall, lanky middle aged man stepped through the Gate.

"Janus," Elizabeth greeted. "Welcome back to _Atlantis_."

"It is good to be back," the Ascended Lantean inventor said with a friendly smile. "I can't wait to see what you people have done with the place. I have it on good authority that it is quite impressive, though I must say that I do not think I can approve of how you've supposedly militarized the city?"

"You're not the first Ascended to have told us that," Elizabeth said with a chuckle.

"I've heard that too," Janus confessed. "It's a common complaint you'll hear from the Lanteans I'm afraid. We're don't appreciate militarizing anything if we can help it. The war with the Wraith withstanding, we're quite the pacifist people."

"And promoting peace is exactly why we've asked you to come here."

"I am aware," the man said with a nod. "I'm eager to get started."

* * *

"I still don't believe your people agreed to this," Sheppard said as he stood on a catwalk that had been set up to provide overwatch of the Stargate on M3T-842 where the meeting between the Asurans and the Expedition were about to be held. The world had been specifically chosen due to its being uninhabited and on the border of Asuran and liberated space making it the closest thing to neutral territory that they shared.

"It is a chance to meet our Creator and hear his commands for the first time in ten thousand years," The attractive blonde Asuran woman with a passing resemblance to Buffy from the TV show _Buffy the Vampire Slayer _named Myrcel that was his Replicator opposite number replied easily. "We would be fools to miss this chance."

"Still took you a month just to decide to meet."

"We had to take steps to ensure this was not a deception. Or would you not be vigilant against such if put in our situation?"

"I suppose you've got me there." Sheppard conceded. "Talking about things I'd do. I know why they picked you to pair off with me. I'm flattered, but I'm married. It won't work."

"You think too highly of yourself, Colonel Sheppard." Myrcel said with a roll of her eyes. "I was chosen to oversee security for this summit because I'm the highest ranked security officer among my people willing to work with the Atlanteans, no more no less."

"And you being smoking hot is just a coincidence?"

Shooting him a cold glare, the Replicator replied in a scathing tone.

"Just because many of my peers care little for their physical appearance does not mean all of us are the same. Many of us _do _aspire to the same concepts of beauty that you humans and the Lanteans before you do."

"Really? Uh, my bad then."

"Yes it is," Myrcel tells him harshly, even as the Gate below dialing. "Now be on guard. Creator Janus is slated to arrive next. I do not want _anything _to go wrong now."

* * *

Negotiations were held in a tent that had been set up jointly by the Asurans and the Expedition in the style of a conference room. The Replicators had offered to build a permanent structure, but not trusting them to not exploit that somehow the Expedition had refused. After some protracted wrangling, they'd agreed to the use of non-permanent structures for the venue with elements jointly provided by both sides.

And that had only been one aspect of the back and forth that went on to just arranging for the hosting of this event.

_Now the truly difficult part begins._ Elizabeth thought to herself grimly as they all took their seats.

"As agreed, Janus will speak first." Elizabeth said, nodding to the Lantean sitting to her right.

The Asurans bristled at her choice to address him without some kind of respectful prefix but considering she did so at his insistence, she would continue to do so. Keeping him on the side of the Expedition was more important than playing to the Asurans' sensibilities.

"Thank you Dr. Weir." Janus said with a smile before he set his face in a serious mask and addressed the three person Asuran delegation seated across from him, his eyes drilling into those of the plump old man called Oberoth that was their leader.

"Asurans. I'm honoured that you see me so highly. When I issued those last orders to you when I left _Atlantis _all those thousands of years ago, I never thought they would leave such a deep mark on you."

The Asurans shifted uneasily.

"Nevertheless, I am truly impressed by your accomplishments over that time. Not only have you fought the Wraith relentlessly, you have also built a thriving and powerful civilization of your own. Both are things you should be deeply and rightly be proud of doing."

The Replicators sat up straighter at the praise from their Creator.

"However, now I must beseech you to set aside some of that pride." Janus said pleadingly. Elizabeth didn't know if it was an act or not, but it certainly seemed convincing. "I ask you to set aside your differences with the Atlantis Expedition and work _with them_ to bring peace to the Pegasus."

"Even for you, Creator, that is a tall order." Oberoth replied once he was sure that Janus was finished.

"I'm sure you're aware of all that this _Atlantis Expedition_ has done to impede us in the fulfilment of the mission that you entrusted us?" The Asuran leader asked, spitting the Expedition's name out like it was something vile. "How many of our kind and our human allies they've killed?"

"I am aware." Janus acknowledged.

"Then how can you ask us to work with such monsters?"

"You call us monsters after having killed untold millions of innocent humans in your war?" Elizabeth countered, unable to hold her tongue when faced with such slander being levied at her people. "Millions you killed to only achieve a stalemate with the Wraith?"

"They were necessary sacrifices," Oberoth dismissed. "Your Expedition have caused the deaths of innocents yourselves has it not?"

"When we couldn't help it or indirectly, yes." Elizabeth admitted. "But your killings were more often than not acts of deliberate military strategy. Or put more simply genocide."

The Asuran delegation were visibly agitated by this and Oberoth looked ready to retort angrily, when Janus cut in.

"Everyone calm down." The Ascended said looking pointedly at both sides.

He waited until they had did as he requested before continuing to speak.

"Oberoth, Asuran councilors, you needed to hear that." He told them seriously, before turning to level hard eyes at Elizabeth. "That said, Dr. Weir, you could have praised that more delicately."

"That is true," Elizabeth allowed before offering a short bow towards the Asurans. "I apologize for that. However, what I _will not_ apologize for is the fact that my Expedition has done more in the fight against the Wraith than you ever had."

The Asurans shifted uncomfortably, much to Elizabeth's satisfaction, and she continued.

"It is only with our arrival to the Pegasus galaxy that your long stalemate was broken and the Wraith pushed back. It is thanks to _us _that they now control the least amount of space since the very start of the Lantean-Wraith war.

"And what has _your _war cost?" Oberoth asked scathingly.

_Is that his only argument? _

Elizabeth was preparing to rebut him again when an alarm sounded and the meeting was suspended as security personnel from both sides rushed in to ensure the safety of their respective leaders.

* * *

"The Wraith are using Asuran IFFs." Hermóðr noted with some surprise as he eyed the Wraith fleet closing on M3T-842 that the _Hala_'s systems had until they'd dropped out of hyperspace registered as Asuran ships. "And had sensor profiles identical to theirs as well. Quite an ingenious trick."

With their stealth technology overcome, the Wraith couldn't hide themselves from the Expedition's long range sensors but they could, it seemed, appear to be someone else thus fooling them anyway. A trick they used to catch the Expedition/Asuran joint fleet over M3T-842 entirely by surprise.

That didn't seem the end to the Wraith tricks however.

_They're in a defensive formation for an attack? Why? _

Indeed, the entire Wraith fleet was formed up in thickly formed sphere usually adopted for defensive retreats, at the heart of which was a single Wraith cruiser.

_There must be something about that cruiser._

"All ships," Hermóðr said having opened a fleet wide channel. "Form a wall over the meeting site and open fire! Focus on thinning that protective shell and punching a hole for a clear shot at cruiser at the centre of the Wraith formation. They are protecting it for a reason and I would rather not see what that reason is."

Receiving a chorus of affirmatives, Hermóðr waited until the Wraith entered into optimal firing range before having the _Hala _open fire. Its particle beams joined a hammering rain of plasma bolts, beams and other exotic weaponry as it slammed into the Wraith ships. But they advanced relentlessly, filling any gaps in their formation with reserves from inside the sphere always presenting a solid wall of armored hulls between the fire from the defenders and that ominous cruiser at the centre of their fleet. The Wraith returned fire, of course, but these volleys seemed almost half-hearted at best as they focused on physically barreling through the defenders' ranks instead.

Eventually though the weight of fire from the Expedition and Asuran fleets began taking their toll and the sphere began to crumble apart but not before it reached the defenders' lines.

"_The Wraith are swarming us! Requesting assita-"_

"_Secace _lost," _Hala _reported as the Wraith punched a hole through their lines.

"Swing our wings around and plug that gap!" Hermóðr ordered hastily, even as he knew it was too late.

The ships on the wings would never get there in time. They did however manage to pin down most of the Wraith ships that were trying to pour through the gap. All except a pair of Hive ships and that cruiser that had been heart of their earlier formation. Ships that were now in the _Hala_'s range.

"Computer, target that cruiser."

"Firing."

The _O'Neill_-class' powerful particle beams lanced across the void of space but instead of hitting their target struck one of the cruiser's escorting Hives which had moved into the path of the _Hala_'s fire shielding the smaller vessel. A Wraith Hive ship was an impressively armored vessel and despite the destructive power of the _Hala_'s beams, it survived the barrage. It was severely damaged however and fell out of formation but its place shielding the cruiser was soon taken up by the other Hive ship.

This ship was already visibly scarred from enemy fire and did not survive the _Hala_'s second barrage, exposing the cruiser it had been protecting. The moment he had a lock Hermóðr fired, however his beams were still crossing through space when the cruiser fired some kind of purple energy wave down into the planet's atmosphere that quickly spread out to encompass the whole globe. It was destroyed moments later as the beams lanced through it, but the damage had already been done.

* * *

On the surface, Sheppard commanded his team and several squads of marines as they worked alongside a handful of Asuran guards led by Myrcel as they escorted the dignitaries towards the Stargate. The decision having been made to evacuate since the Wraith were on the verge of breaking through the orbital defensive line.

He and the rest of his team were personally escorting Janus towards the Gate when suddenly a wall of purple wave washed over them.

"Wha-"

"Argh!" Janus cried out in agony as he collapsed, clutching at his chest.

"Creator!" Myrcel cried out as she rushed to his side and looked on in horror as his body began to disintegrate into particles of light.

"What is happening!?" Oberoth demanded as he and the Asuran delegation arrived as well.

"We know as much as you do!" Elizabeth told him defiantly.

He shot her an angry look and Sheppard clutched his P90 warily, shooting Oberoth's guards a challenging look. Behind him he heard the distinctive whine of Ronon's particle magnum powering up.

"I-It is not the humans' fault." Janus wheezed out through pained breaths. "It seems that the Wraith has recovered some of the V-Vanir's Descension technology."

"They had that kind of tech?" McKay gasped in shock, but Sheppard and everyone else ignored him.

"Is there anything that we can do to save you, Creator?" Oberoth said kneeling beside the dying Ascended Being.

"N-No," Janus said, his voice becoming weaker. "B-But you c-can fulfill my last w-wish: s-stop the war & help the Expedition bring p-peace to Pegasus."

With these last words, his body fully collapsed into particles of light which scattered on the wind.

* * *

A week after Janus' death, Sheppard stood next to Myrcel as they both looked over _Atlantis _from the observation deck attached to Gate Operations.

"So how's the view?"

"It's very nice," the Asuran told him with a sad smile. "But it's not helped my mood as much as I'd hoped."

"I can sympathise," Sheppard told her sincerely. "Everyone is deeply affected by what happened to Janus."

"None are more affected than my people," Myrcel told him sharply.

"I'll give you that." Sheppard conceded. "He was like a father to all your people. For him to just die like that… I can't imagine how it must hurt."

Myrcel just nodded and remained quiet for a long moment.

"Nevertheless, overcome by grief or not. I and those who follow me _will _honor the Creator's final wish."

"Didn't doubt it," Sheppard said. "So how _are _your people settling in?"

"Your people have been surprisingly welcoming considering our history."

"Well, it's not like you lot are the first Replicators in the Expedition." Sheppard told him with a shrug. "Most people have pretty much gotten used to F.R.A.N. and Ava."

"But neither of them have fought against you on the opposite side of a war."

"The Jades and Albionians did. They were part of the Goa'uld Empire once." Sheppard said with another shrug. "Look, we're a forgiving bunch alright. So long as we're on the same side now and you don't betray us, most of us are more than willing to let bygones be bygones."

"I know. Your people are very noble." Myrcel said with a small smile. "I wish that I could say the same for the majority of mine."

"Hey, you're not responsible for Oberoth and his merry men."

Unlike Myrcel and her band, Oberoth had blamed Janus' death on the Expedition for 'failing to protect him adequately' as much as he did the Wraith. As such, after returning to Asuras he'd whipped his people into a fever pitch and practically declared holy war on the Expedition.

"But people cannot live on wishes alone." Myrcel continued. "We'll need to _fight _to bring peace."

"Glad to have you fighting by our side."

"Glad to be on the _right side_ at last."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done!
> 
> A relatively short one after the last few long chapters, hope you guys liked it.
> 
> So the Wraith have anti-Ascended tech and they got it by adapting recovered Vanir Descension tech? What? How? Well, in the canon sequel novels for Stargate: Atlantis, its stated that the Vanir had such tech so I ran with that idea.
> 
> As the arc's name might have tipped you off we're in the endgame now. Only three chapters left at this point and then we're done. Look forward to the (hopefully) epic conclusion to this story coming soon.
> 
> Till the next chapter kudzokorora!


	33. Endgame - Pegasus Supergate

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of the IPs from which any imported elements may originate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Pegasus War**

**Chapter Thirty Three: Endgame - Pegasus Supergate**

**Beta: **

* * *

For months since the Neo Ugarit Disaster, the Coalition of Free Peoples had been demoralized and on the defensive, reflected in its Atlantis Expedition with a general lack of support for major offensives. However, with its spirits renewed by its victory over the Goa'uld Remnant in the Aschen campaign back in the Milky Way, the Coalition had decided it was time to step up its efforts in the Pegasus and finally end the war there. To facilitate that and as another morale boosting show of strength, its leadership had chosen to build a Supergate around a blackhole not too far from the Lantean system, Not only would the megastructure serve as a major shortening of the logistics chain to support the Expedition, the building of such a technological marvel would be just the demonstration of its capabilities that the Coalition's populace needed to regain their confidence in the organization.

As a result of this decision, Royen found himself supervising the installation of the Energy Collection Array onboard the _Defiance_-class Mobile Defense Station _Gubraithian _that had been folded into orbit of the black hole. The Energy Collection Array that when installed would siphon the energy of the blackhole to power the Chappa'ko was essentially a Hyperspace Tap Energy Collection Array heavily modified with parts reverse engineered from the systems used to power the Milky Way Chappa'ko built by the Ori. It was also highly experimental.

"Be careful with that!" Royen barked at the Tau'ri technician who had almost fumbled the installation of a set of important control crystals. "If you'd installed that incorrectly, you could have blown us all to pieces when we turned the Array on."

The poor man gulped but proceeded with more caution, much to Royen's satisfaction.

"Since when have you become Rodney?" Dr. Radek Zelenka asked, looking up from the readings of the black hole that he was monitoring.

"Since we started working on something as delicate as this." Royen said with a sigh. "Do you know how insane this is? Building a Chappa'ko when we barely understand the science behind doing so?"

"I thought you Albionians have been working on this ever since you secured the Milky Way Supergate and started studying it?"

"Yes, and we only managed that a little under two years ago! How can anyone realistically expect to understand something this complex in such a short amount of time?"

Radek shrugged. "The science checks out."

"The science _that we understand_ check us out." Royen insisted. "There are still many aspects of a Chappa'ko's operation that we do _not_!"

"I don't agree. We know enough to build, operate and maintain it." Radek countered. "If we want to learn any more than we'll need to do that, which is what we're doing, and _then _study it."

Sighing, Royen conceded the point. "I suppose you're correct. I'm just…"

"Uneasy?" Radek suggested.

"Yes," Royen nodded. "This is the biggest project I've ever been put in charge of and it just had to be one that's so bleeding edge."

"Cheer up, Royen." Radek said, giving his shoulder a friendly pat. "You're doing a great job."

Royen just nodded half-hearted. He hoped he was. He really did. So much rested on him getting this Chappa'ko online.

* * *

Even as Royen and Radek worked onboard the _Gubraithian_ to finish bringing the Supergate to life, Marc commanded a sizable portion of the entire Expedition Fleet as it served as a garrison fleet for the currently still inactive modules of the Gate. To ensure the safety of the shielded but still vulnerable modules, he had spread his fleet out into a loose defensive sphere around the modules and awaited the inevitable attack.

Almost as soon as they'd began construction, their long range sensors had detected two large fleets, one Asuran and the other Wraith, en route. Together both fleets outnumbered his garrison by a margin of twenty percent and their deployment had stirred up quite a panic as with most of his forces tied up defending the Supergate's construction they could devastate vast swathes of Liberated Space as they advanced. Thankfully, it seemed they were too intent or perhaps too wary of suffering attrition doing so and had instead avoided battle as they beelined towards the Supergate's location.

Faced with this massive force and with the Expedition Fleet stretched thin, Marc and Dr. Weir had requested reinforcements from the Milky Way. However, it was unlikely they would arrive in time. Not without bringing the Supergate online. He was thus faced with a tough battle ahead.

_If only we'd finished setting setting up the defensive net. _Marc lamented as he looked at the sparse collection of defensive satellites they'd managed to deploy so far. At barely 10% complete, he doubted it would be able to provide any substantial assistance in the upcoming battle at all.

_Chevalier, _the Pilot of his new _Douter_-class flagship, the _Yoshitsune, _sent him telepathically over the Hivemind. _Enemy fleets are transiting out of hyperspace on both hemispheres and are closing._

_I see them. Begin deploying strike craft and raise our flak clouds. _Marc ordered as he delved into the Fleetmind and examining the tactical situation through the collective systems of the various Chiropteran ships under his command. _They're more spread out than usual. A response to our dreadnoughts' area of effect weapons?_

_Fleet Lord Drake concurs. He reports he has no firing solution that will cause truly significant damage._

Marc winced at the news. The _Peacekeeper_ and its powerful Lightning Cannons were one of their biggest trump cards. Able to decimate whole fleets of ships with every shot those powerful weapons could have really leveled the playing field. It was why he'd been confident in letting the Mul'tak anchor one hemisphere of their defense alongside the Jade Shen'tak class dreadnought, the _Yùguān_, as the only super capitals on that front, reserving the remaining Mel'tak dreadnoughts for his own side of things.

_That's not the only trick our enemies decided to pull either. _Marc thought to himself with a frown. The fact that the Wraith and Asuran fleets had arrived at the same time could only mean one thing.

_The bastards _did _make a temporary truce to launch this assault together._

That had been one great fear of Marc's. Yuki had warned him that it was highly likely, arguing that the fact that both of these fleets had set off at the same time was indication enough. He had held out hope she was wrong however. Now though, he wished he'd listened and made more preparations for this possibility.

Sadly, the time for lamenting past mistakes were over.

_Enemies closing into firing range._

_All ships: Open fire!_

The battle was joined.

* * *

Even as the first energy beams and plasma bolts began flying between the two sides, Xinyue and his squadron flew their new Tieren IIs into the heart of the battle. While still retaining a somewhat blocky aesthetic in comparison to other Mobile Suits, their new machines now sported a more streamlined, more humanoid look in comparison to its predecessor that in Xinyue's completely unbiased opinion made it stand out in the chaos of the battlefield.

Using his new machines, his squadron and an attached Xūlóng Heavy Mobile Armor were tasked with escorting a superheavy Carnyx Mobile Armor as it tried to close into the ranks of the formations of the enemy capital ships and take as many of them out with its Mega Particle Projector Cannon main weapon as possible.

Frankly, Xinyue doubted the logic behind the whole mission. The Xūlóng with its sleek, draconic profile and its speed could keep up easily with the rapid rigours of strike craft combat just fine and the addition of its Funnels, Particle Projector Cannon and twin Heavy Staff Cannons were a welcome boost to his squadron's firepower. However, the Carynx was another matter altogether. Though fast the vaguely spherical machine lacked maneuverability and was proving more of a liability than a help.

Case in point: It was the Carynx's shortcomings that had allowed his squadron to find themselves on the defensive against a large formation of Minervas and Vulcans.

"_We can't shake them, Prime." _The Carynx's pilot said despairingly over the comms. "_Apologies."_

"None of that, warrior." Xinyue told the younger Jaffa. Despite his misgivings about the mission, none of that was the other man's fault and he was not about to blame it on him. "We'll just have to face them then. Provide us with fire support."

"_Yes, Prime!"_

"All forces, we'll need to shake these pests off the old fashioned way." Xinyue told his men over the squadron comm band. "Let's kill us some Replicators!"

This was met with a chorus of agreement as his men shot towards the enemy, their new Heavy Plasma Repeaters firing bolts at the Asurans at a rate that put their old Staff Cannons to shame. Next to Xinyue, the Xūlóng like him held position near the Carynx and unloaded its arsenal at the enemy. Its Funnels flew at odd angles, dancing around the enemy peppering them with distracting plasma bolts from their Staff Cannons, creating openings for the rest of his men to exploit. Meanwhile its Particle Projector Cannon and twin Heavy Staff Cannons spat death, killing an Asuran machine with every shot.

Things were going okay. Not well by any stretch of the imagination, but okay. They were still stuck but they were holding the Asurans back from the vulnerable Carynx when help arrived.

"_You guys look like you need a hand," _Xinyue heard over his comms as he bisected a Minerva with his heat blade and shot out the thrusters of another, sending it spiraling directly in front of the Carynx's Mega Particle Projector Cannon which proceeded to vaporise it in a blinding blue beam of exotic particles.

"Any help is appreciated," Xinyue replied instinctively. He was too busy shooting up a Vulcan to think properly.

That changed however when a group of Albionian Rifleman IIs and Spitfires blitzed into the area. Between the Rifleman IIs' insanely rapid fire Plasma Carbines and the Spitfires' Lightning Cannons, it was over in under a minute. The pesky Asuran formation that had pinned his squadron down for the better part of fifteen minutes was completely wiped out.

_By the gods! _Xinyue thought, a fearful shiver going down his spine at the display even as he offered his thanks over the comms.

"You have our thanks."

"_No need," _the Albionian commander replied. "_Just doing our job. Speaking of that, we'll clear the way for your Carynx. Sink us an _Aurora _or two will you?"_

"We'll try our best," Xinyue returned.

"_Great. Then follow our lead."_

Doing as the Albionian asked, Xinyue led his squadron to the nearest cluster of Asuran capital ships. They met resistance along the way but with the help of the powerful Albionian Mobile Suits, they were swept aside with little to no effort.

"Time to shine, warrior." Xinyue told the Carynx pilot as they finally cleared him a decent shot against a Asuran _Aurora_-class.

"_Taste Lord Yu's wrath!"_ The young warrior shouted eagerly as he fired his machine's Mega Particle Projector Cannon at the type of enemy it was designed for at last.

The brilliant blue beam lanced across the relatively short distance to the Asuran ship in seconds where it slammed hard into its shields, shattering it like was so much glass and drilling right through the battleship roughly at its midpoint. The shot must have hit something vital because moments later as the beam petered out, the ship started to be consumed by secondary explosions.

_So the Carynxs aren't wastes of space after all. _Xinyue mused as he shot down a Minerva trying to flee the doomed vessel. _They just need larger escorts so they can get close and do their job. Something to bring up with the higher ups later. For now…_

"Good job, everyone!" Xinyue informed everyone in their impromptu formation whilst simultaneously shooting the arm off a Vulcan trying to come at him with some kind energy blade, leaving it reeling and weaponless thus easily picked off by his squadron's Xūlóng. "But they're plenty of other enemy ships to kill today. So let's go do that!"

He was met with enthusiastic agreement over the comms as they vectored towards a nearby Asuran cruiser.

_Time to die, you Asuran bastards!_

* * *

Even as Xinyue and his men dealt with the Asurans on one side of the Supergate, Tommen and the _Explorer _faced the Wraith on the other.

"Torpedoes in all tubes," Tommen ordered as the Ohne destroyer shot towards the flank of the nearest concentration of Wraith ships.

"Incoming Wraith mecha squadrons." His sensors officer reported.

"Leave them to our escorts," Tommen dismissed. "Line up our shots. I want to take out as many of the Wraith in this pass as possible."

As he gave his orders two dozen Wraith Hunters led by a pair of Enforcers flew up to intercept the _Explorer _only to find themselves cut off from their target by a squadron of Jade Badbs and another of Albionian Hurricanes. Both types of nimble and fast Expedition machines flew circles around their Wraith counterparts picking them off with their plasma repeaters and in the case of the Hurricanes the occasional shot from their medium Particle Projector Cannons.

With the path cleared, the _Explorer _closed nearly unopposed with the Wraith flotilla. A small pack of Darts did try to do what their heavier mecha counterparts had failed to do, but were summarily swatted aside by the _Explorer_'s flak. The destroyer thus easily managed to fire its brace of photon torpedoes into the sides of a dozen different Wraith ships, sinking a Hive ship and two cruisers outright and crippling two more Hives.

Some distance away an entire Wraith squadron of capital ships went up in a storm of orange lightning thanks to the _Peacekeeper_ and it was with the light of their explosions as the backdrop that the _Explorer _vectored away from the enemy pursued by a fresh wave of strike craft sent out to destroy it. Sadly for the Wraith pilots they'd just managed to close on the Ohne destroyer when its escorts returned from finishing off their predecessors and began doing the same to them.

"Take us on a wider arc this time," Tommen ordered his helm officer. "Our shields took more of a beating this round, plus the pursuit is a little bigger. Let's give our escorts more time to finish them off before going for another pass."

"Yes, sir!"

Satisfied, Tommen turned to his XO. "What's our count?"

"Eight Hives and eleven cruisers sunk. Another five hives and nineteen cruisers crippled."

"Think we'll hit the thirties before the battle is done?"

"At the rate we're going, I think we have a good chance."

"Then that's our goal for today. Thirty HIves! At least!" Tommen shouted at his men. "Can we do it?"

"Yes, sir!" They all returned enthusiastically.

Allowing a predatory grin spread across his face and making him look especially menacing considering his Ohne physiology, Tommen gave his latest order.

"Take us in for another pass!"

* * *

While Tommen and his crew were in high spirits as they chased a high score, Valdon was cursing his luck.

The Belkan member of the Native Corps and the rest of his Mobile Suit squadron hadn't even been supposed to be at the Supergate. Most of the Native Corps had instead been assigned to garrison duties to protect liberated worlds. However, his squadron had the misfortune to be attached to the _Yùguān _for some refits to their machines and training when it had been deployed to the Supergate garrison, taking his squadron with it.

And that was how he'd found himself with the unenviable duty of fending off Wraith strike craft determined to attack the Jade Shen'tak class dreadnought that had just arrived from the Milky Way a few days ago and was rushed to the defense of the Supergate. He could understand why they were trying so hard too.

Like all the Coalition's dreadnoughts, the Shen'tak was deadly. As big as a Mel'tak with a large central pyramid surrounded by a smooth black ovoid shaped superstructure and four squat pagodas, its large surface area was dotted with literally thousands of plasma cannons of various sizes. But that paled in comparison to the incredibly powerful main gun built into the capstone of the pyramid that shot white lances of death that obliterated any Wraith ship they touched. Apparently it was reverse engineered from captured examples of equivalent weapons on Ori dreadnoughts. Not that Valdon knew what those were, then again it didn't really mattered.

To add insult to injury that wasn't even the extent of the _Yùguān_'s arsenal. Built into each of the pagodas were Lightning Emitters like those on the _Peacekeeper _though lower yield. They couldn't quite shoot a lighting storm through space and destroy a whole fleet but they _could _create a crackling cloud of deadly lightning around the Shen'tak that kept enemy ships from getting too close.

_I'm just grateful whoever designed it worked out how to make sure that it didn't fry friendlies. _Valdon thought as he saw a Wraith Enforcer get kicked into the field's range by a Jade Tieren II and be hit by a bolt seconds later, reducing it to scrap.

He didn't have time to admire that beautiful sight for long however as a Hunter closed on his position, shooting plasma disks at him with abandon. Jinking out of the way of its fire, Valdon leveled his over the shoulder Heavy Staff Mortar at the machine and fired. The Wraith pilot tried to dodge, but the Hunter wasn't exactly a particularly maneuverable machine and the plasma bolt still hit it in the side and detonated with enough force to tear it apart.

"That's seventeen." Valdon counted with a satisfied grin. He might be annoyed at being caught up in this massive space battle when he didn't need to, but he would never not take pleasure in killing a Wraith. Not after what he'd seen on that Wraith farm world.

"_Valdon, watch out! A Enforcer's coming your way!" _One of his squadmates shouted urgently over the comms, giving him just enough warning to jerk out of the way of the particle beam shot at him

The damned Enforcer wasn't alone either. It was being screened by a group of Darts, shielding it from the fire coming its way from all sides from his squadron and the others protecting the _Yùguān_. Adding his own heavy weapon to the mix, he managed to catch the last of the Darts together in one blast but the blasted Enforcer just gunned itself out of the blast radius at the last minute.

Someone on the Shen'tak must have been watching the duel though, because that's exactly when its main gun fired lancing right through the space occupied by the Enforcer completely consuming it whilst en route to drilling through a Wraith Hive ship some distance behind it and destroying the enemy ship too.

"_Wow! That's good shooting!" _Someone said over the squad comms, voicing everyone's thoughts.

A series of pulsing lights caught Valdon's attention and he glanced in their direction to see the various modules of the Supergate began to light up. One by one the many wedge shaped modules began to come online, bolts of blue lightning arcing between them as they did. It began slowly at first but then began to pick up speed as more and more of the modules activated until at least every segment and the spaces inbetween glowed with a gentle blue light.

* * *

Cheers chorused over the the comms as the Supergate finally started up. Prophet however was too busy defending the _Gubraithian _from the joint Wraith and Asuran fleet that had come to destroy it to pay them any mind. Ignoring them like he was the constant calls of traitor hurled at him telepathically by the Wraith he was fighting, he focused on the task given to him by his Queens: winning this battle.

_Do not advance! _Prophet barked at the various Fiendish ships under his command. now expanded to include a dozen motherships - calling them Hive ships no longer seemed appropriate - and thirty cruisers thanks to the generosity of his Queens.

Much to his annoyance, his Fiendish forces were proving the most unreliable elements of the defense fleet granted to him. Driven by instinctive aggression and a need to impress their Queens, his brethren were eager to take the fight to the enemy. Normally, that was an admirable trait however in this case the battle plan called for restraint instead.

_This mismatch will be something we need to consider when making deployments in the future. _ Prophet mused as the _Gubraithian_'s Lightning Cannon fired once more destroying another sizable chunk of the attackers' fleet.

Ever since the enemy had jumped in shortly after their counterparts had attacked the Supergate proper, Prophet had held a defensive position close to the _Defiance_-class station and within range of its devastating Lightning Cannon. With the enemy having a third more ships than he did, he knew full well that a standard battle would not be in his favour. Thus he'd hunkered down and let the _Gubraithian _do most of the killing for him while his fleet primarily provided supporting fire.

A very successful strategy indeed, seeing as they'd managed to sink roughly a dozen enemy ships for the loss of only a couple of their own so far.

_The Supergate! Chevalier, look at the Supergate! _The collective of the Fiendish fleet sent urgently at him with such force that it caused Prophet to jerk in his seat on the bridge of the _Rachat_, the _Douter_-class that served as his flagship.

Hissing in annoyance he tapped into the visual sensors of the _Rachat _that were pointed towards the Supergate just in time to see the unstable vortex shoot out of the megastructure, disintegrating a squadron of Asuran ships in the process, before stabilizing and allowing a fleet of Coalition ships to come through.

_It's about time._

* * *

Prophet wouldn't know it, but his sentiments were very much shared by General Jack O'Neill, United States Air Force, Commander of the Homeworld Defense Organization Space Force as he led the Coalition fleet as it transited through the Milky Way Supergate and out its Pegasus counterpart. He'd been waiting on the Milky Way end for hours and was antsy to get to work.

Though as he exited the wormhole and saw the fight that was raging on the other side, he cursed his impatience.

_Why couldn't it have activated _after _the battle had been won?_ The hero of the Tau'ri thought to himself with a sigh, even as he turned to the tactical officer of his flagship, the USS _Merlin_. It was the newest _Thor_-class battlecarrier to come off the assembly lines at the orbital shipyard the Chiropterans had gifted Earth.

_And it's getting involved in one of our most active fronts? Guess it's nothing new for us._

"Target the largest enemy concentration and fire the main gun." Jack ordered, ignoring the distraction that were his wandering thoughts. "Relay to the rest of the fleet, break into their squadrons and assist the friendlies wherever they need it. The battle is too messy for any big formations. Oh, and I don't need to say it but launch fighters and put up some flak ASAP too."

"Yes, sir!" The young lieutenant said with all the professionalism he expected of an airman chosen to serve aboard one of the finest ships in the Homeworld Defense Organization Space Force.

He'd barely finished the thought when the Merlin's particle mortar launched a ball of deadly white death into the heart of the thickest enemy formation where it exploded with the force of a micro supernova destroying all two dozen or so Asuran ships in a single blinding flash of light.

That shot more or less signalled the end of the battle. Demoralized by their failure to stop the Supergate's activation and now hopelessly outnumbered as Coalition reinforcements streamed through the wormhole, the Asurans and Wraith attempted to flee. The defenders were not in a forgiving mood however and pursued them relentlessly, hunting them down and destroying them whenever they caught them. As a result, less than 20% of the Asuran and Wraith fleets managed to escape and most of these would be hunted down before they successfully made it back to the safety of their own space.

That was a concern for the Expedition in the weeks to come however. In the meantime, General O'Neill was busy ensuring the Supergate was secure.

"From up in multiple layers of defenses on all possible vectors of approach." Jack ordered his XO. "Have the Expedition forces from up in the innermost layers. They've taken a beating, let them rest up a bit."

"Anything else, sir?" The young woman asked.

"Not at the moment." Jack said with a shake of his head. "Not until we get those damage reports. Then we can decide which ships to rotate where."

"I'll have those reports for you ASAP."

"Good. Get going lieutenant."

The junior officer offered him a salute and turned to relay his orders.

"You make a great flag officer, General." Colonel Ian Davidson, the _Merlin_'s commander, said with a grin.

"Asskissing won't get you anywhere, Colonel." Jack told him bluntly.

The Colonel just shrugged. "Just telling you the truth, sir. Your wife told me to remind you of it whenever you started looking like the position is weighing you down."

Jack shot him a glare.

Davidson just smiled mischievously back. "Sorry sir, but she might just be a Brigadier General but General Carter is a lot scarier than you are."

Jack grumbled but didn't deny it. He knew that he'd garnered himself the reputation as a softie among the Space Force. And somehow along the way, though he didn't know how, Sam had managed to earn the rep as a hardass instead. Something about not hesitating to blow up star systems if you pissed her off? Prosperous! She'd only ever blown up one star system and he was there to help her do it!

"Sir!" His XO said coming up.

"You got the reports?"

"Not completely. The Jades are still putting there's together."

"Then what is it?"

"The supply convoy is asking for permission to come through the Supergate."

Jack gave the matter some thought for a moment before nodding. "Tell them to dial the Gate."

"Yes sir," the young woman said before nodding towards the _Merlin_'s comms officer.

Turning to the viewscreen showing the Supergate himself, Jack watched as it began the dialing sequence and let his mind wander.

_Thank god this is almost over. Once the supply convoy comes through safe and sound, we can declare the Gate secure and I can head home. _The thought brought up an image in his mind's eye of his beautiful wife pregnant with their third child and his twin princesses waiting for him back home. _I'm getting too old for this shit! I'm totally going to request a posting to a desk job when I get back, nevermind the bloody paperwork._

As much as he hated the idea of being away from the action, his family came first.

He'd just made that resolution when the Supergate's wormhole stabilized and a supply fleet made up of Cylon Basestars acting as bulk freighters came through.

_Besides, with this Supergate online. I don't think the war in the Pegasus is going to last much longer._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done!
> 
> To be honest, this chapter is shorter than I would like. I wanted to emulate some of the more epic battles I've written before, especially the Battle of Celestis and the Battle of Earth earlier in the series. However, I ran into the wall that there isn't really many things I could do in this space battle without getting repetitive. I just ran out of ideas on what to do. So I'm sorry if this chapter is somewhat disappointing in terms of the action. If it is, I feel you.
> 
> So, I gave Jack a family. How does that work timewise? Well, as I've always done with this series and as a nod to Stargate canon, the flow of time between chapters/events unless specifically stated is fluid. But basically, it's been about two years since the end of the Ori war at this point and that's plenty of time for Jack and Sam to get married, have a pair of twins and for Sam to get pregnant again. As for issues arising from the couple's ages, do remember the insane medical technologies available to them and failing that there's always appealing to a higher power. Skaara and Nimue come to mind as Ascended Beings that would be more than happy to help the happy couple.
> 
> That's it for my reflections this chapter, so let's just move on to the visual guide.
> 
> Visual Guide:
> 
> Tieren II = GNX-704T Ahead from the Gundam franchise
> 
> Xūlóng = AMA-X4 Ahava Azieru from the Gundam franchise
> 
> Carynx = Apsalus II from the Gundam franchise
> 
> The finale is next. Till then, atsisveikina!


	34. Endgame - Final Push

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of the IPs from which any imported elements may originate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Pegasus War**

**Chapter Thirty Four: Endgame - Final Push**

**Beta: **

* * *

**Trigger warning: Suicide, Dehumanization, Humans as livestock**

Terence and his team stood on a loading ramp of the USS _Achilles _as they watched Native Corps' Sixth Battalion, Third Brigade, First Marine Division march pass them and into the _Daedalus_-class battlecruiser.

"So this it, huh?" Yod asked, sounding skeptical. "The final push?"

"That's what High Command back home and the senior staff hope." Terence confirmed.

"It's about time," Wrex said with a grin. "An end to the thousands of years of suffering that the Pegasus has had to endure."

"I don't know about that," Terence said with a shrug. "But if all goes well. It should be the end of the Asurans and the Wraith as threats."

"That's good enough for me," the Lacuan said with a shrug of his own.

"Amen." Larry agreed. "Then I pray that this offensive is a success."

"No offense, Larry, but I'd rather put my faith in ourselves than your god."

"None taken," Larry said with a grin. "Not everyone is ready to hear the Good News."

"Let me cut you two off there," Terence said urgently before Yod could reply. "We don't need a philosophical debate on the existence of God right now. Let's go get our billets alright?"

Both Yod and Larry grumbled - They liked their back and forths. - but didn't complain as Terence shooed them onto the ship proper with Wrex following behind them. Thus AR-15 joined the largest military force ever amassed in the known history the Pegasus of the galaxy as they set off to turn a new page in that long, bloody tale.

* * *

In orbit over Lantea approximately an hour later, Marc sat on the bridge of the _Yoshitune _as he watched the mustering of the greatly expanded Expedition Fleet as they prepared for a final push against the Wraith and Asurans. They were split into five different groups. The smallest would stay behind and with the help of the network of defensive satellites guard Lantea from any possible attack, joining hundreds of similar garrison forces across Liberated Space to keep it safe.

The other four groups would go on the offensive. Three targeted key Wraith bases that once taken out would cripple their ability to wage war. It was hoped that once accomplished, it would allow their allies in Todd's Hive alliance to if not totally seize control then at least gain enough influence to force the Wraith to the negotiating table. The last, under his command, would head to Asuras and enact a plan they hoped would finally end the threat of the Asurans once and for all.

_Chevalier, _the Fleetmind reached out to him. _All ships and strike groups report readiness._

_Good. Then signal the Mel'taks in our group to fold. _Marc sent back, his eagerness clear even in his mental voice. _It is time to end this war._

After a short countdown that Marc ignored, the two Mel'taks at the heart of his strike group began expanding their fold bubbles to encompass the large flotilla of ships. This took a few seconds before in a brilliant burst of light they vanished from Lantean orbit and almost immediately reappeared in orbit of the Replicator homeworld.

For a second or two, the Asurans appeared stunned by their arrival but with the efficiency of the machines that they were they quickly overcame their shock and opened fire.

_Unleash the Viral Bomb! _Marc ordered even as the first shots of the Asuras' defensive net and its garrison fleet slammed into his forces. They returned fire of course, but if their secret weapon failed then faced with the formidable defenses - largely restored form the Expedition's last raids on the world - they would likely have to, at best, retreat.

_Cylons report Viral Bomb deployed._

Said Viral Bomb was the Cylon's latest cyberweapon. A complex series of viruses and other malware that infiltrated the systems of enemy computer systems and would either engineer the target's self-destruction, shut them down or in the best case scenario allowed its users to seize control of them.

_82% of Asuran defensive satellites are down. 12% have self-destructed. The remaining 6% have been suborned. _

_The enemy fleet?_

_Appears largely unaffected._ The Fleetmind reported back, sounding disappointed. _Occasional system failures detected. However, 97% of ships remain combat capable._

Marc clicked his tongue in annoyance. The Cylons had warned that crewed systems would likely not be as vulnerable as the unmanned satellite net with its need for a networked response to properly meet threats. The Asurans had, like them, learned much from the extensive use of cyberweapons in the course of this war and had built in plenty of failsafes to simply switch to manual control via isolated systems in the event of a successful cyberattack on their ships.

_No matter. _Marc sent back to the Fleetmind. _We'll just fight them the old fashioned way. We only need to hold the line anyway. Are the away teams deployed?_

_Affirmative._

_Then let's buy them the time they need to work their magic. _Marc declared. _Maintain defensive formation!_

* * *

Even as the orbital battle began in earnest, Aris Fon of the Cylon Consensus beamed down into a park at the very centre of the Asuran capital city alongside a squad of Centurions, the Earth-built Replicator Ava Dixon and a block of nanites that the latter and the defected Asurans had built.

The moment they appeared, the park's many inhabitants immediately turned to flee in terror.

"No guards. Good." Aris noted as the hostile Replicators around them did nothing more then flee.

"I wouldn't call scaring a bunch of civilians good." The pretty brunette Dixon said as she fiddled with the controls of the transparent cylinder that was the containment vessel holding the nanites they were here to deliver.

"Whatever," Aris dismissed. "Just activate that damned thing."

"I'm working on it." Dixon replied testily. "There are quite a few security protocols I need to disable so give me a minute. Why the hell did Myrcel and the rest make this so difficult again?"

"So we couldn't use it indiscriminately or did you forget their many, many warnings about that?"

"I probably heard more of them than you ever did," Dixon shot back tapping away at her tablet computer. "Doesn't make it any less annoying."

Aris was about to respond but the arrival of the enemy cut her off.

"Miss Fon, contact!" One of the Centurions shouted in its mechanical voice as a blue blaster bolt slammed into its shield even as it killed its attacker with a burst of keron disruptor enhanced bolts of plasma from its wrist mounted Plasma Repeater.

"Less than a minute. That's a pretty good response time." Aris noted as she opened fire on the Asuran security personnel that were trickling into the park. "Dixon, ETA?"

"I'm working as fast I can!" The scientist replied as she abandoned her tablet computer and instead stabbed her fingers directly into the containment vessel's systems, using her Replicator ability to directly interface with it in an effort to speed things up.

Even then it took her a full ten seconds before with a triumphant grin, she shouted. "Done!"

Unfortunately, she'd accompanied this by throwing her head up and this earned her a blaster bolt to the head. She collapsed to the ground, but her nanites was already hard at work repairing the missing left side of her head. It didn't stop her from whining in pain though.

Aris ignored her, instead toggling her radio.

"Ground Team One to _Yoshitune. _Beam us out! Now!"

She'd barely finished her sentence when she and her team, now down half its Centurions, were transported to safety in a burst of light and a pleasant chiming sound. They made it out just in time, as the light had just began to fade when the containment vessel they'd been protecting exploded and the nanites dispersed in a cloud.

For a moment the various Asuran security personnel on the scene looked at the fine coating of nanites they found themselves covered in with bemusement. They were Replicators! They were literally made of nanites, what could some more of them do to them? Unfortunately for them, it was precisely because they were made of nanites that the 'poisoned' batch unleashed by the Expedition proved deadly. Their bemusement turned to horror as the hostile nanites sank into their bodies and began corrupting those that made up their body, causing it to break down into its base form and collect together.

It started with these unfortunate security personnel but the pathogen spread like wildfire across Asuras and beyond through the subspace network that liked all of their kind together. Some more distant members of their ilk, with precious seconds of lead time, managed to slam down firewalls or like their traitorous brethren who had defected to the enemy outright sever their connections to the collective but for those on Asuras and its planetary system there was no hope. Within seconds their bodies began to break down into its base nanites which proceeded to flow through the air like sliver rivers as they congealed in an ever growing mass in the heart of their capital city.

* * *

At the same time as Aris and Ava activated the 'poisoned' nanites, Rodney, F.R.A.N., Sheppard, Ronon, Teyla and a large squad of Cylon Centurions beamed down to the Asurans' Core Room to carry out the other part of the plan.

"The area is secure," Sheppard said after they'd taken out the last few Asuran guards. "How's it going on your end?"

Rodney was about to reply but was preempted by F.R.A.N..

"Father's plan is going well, Colonel Sheppard." The adult looking but mentally child-like Replicator said with a cheerful grin. "The 'poisoned' nanites have been activated and are drawing in the Asurans. We shouldn't expect more guards."

"But don't let your guard down." Rodney said as she worked to hack into the Asurans' systems. "You never know what kind of surprise the bad guys might have in store."

"Didn't intend to." Sheppard told him bluntly as he went back to taking his place at one of the room's entrances.

"Father!" F.R.A.N. called out, causing Rodney to look up from the console he was working on to look at her. "I've gained access to the power grid's control systems."

"Excellent. Now do as planned and overload their Zero Point Modules closest to the nanite mass. That should be more than enough to destroy it."

"Yes, Fa-"

F.R.A.N. was cut off the earth shook for a moment and the lights flickered for a moment.

"What was that?" Teyla said looking around nervously.

"It's the nanite mass, Auntie Teyla." F.R.A.N. said with a worried frown. "It has grown so heavy that it's beginning to sink into the planet. It's collapsed the subterranean power grid and caused a blackout throughout the city, we're running on local emergency power now."

"What about the ZPMs? Can you still control them?"

"Negative. Remote access has been lost."

"Damnit!"

* * *

While the ground teams worked their magic, the battle in orbit waged on and Xinyue and his squadron were in the thick of the action. Minus the Craynx this time, the superheavy having been redeployed to a long range fire support role that had it sticking close to the capital ships, his Tieren IIs and their lone Xūlóng could weave in and out of the strike craft scrum as they were supposed to. It was no wonder then that being in the element like they were that they began racking up kills in the dozens.

"I admit that they fight hard," Xinyue said to himself as he gunned down a Minerva trying to ram one of his men long before it even got close. "But that doesn't change how they're still going to lose."

"_You've said it." _One of his subordinates replied. "_They're goners."_

"_I'm not sure it is wise to be so presumptuous."_

"_Indeed."_

_It's good to see everyone is in good spirits. _Xinyue thought with a grin as he and his men finished off a mixed enemy squadron of Minervas and Vulcans.

"Alright, let's go hunt down another batch of-"

The Jade Prime's orders were cut short when his computers beeped an alarm and a pair of white particle beams shot pass him to spear his squadron's Xūlóng, destroying it. Turning to its killer, Xinyue saw a massive machine shaped like a large flying wing with a pair of claws sticking out on either side of a mono-eyed head flying at them while launching a Drone salvo.

"Break! Deploy countermeasures!" Xinyue ordered as he did the same.

Much to his relief, his men had likewise reacted in time and their countermeasures successfully dealt with the Drones. Their evasion however had scattered his men and the enemy was capitalized on that by launching what were unmistakably Funnels that detached from the edges of its wings and streaked towards them.

_The bloody copycats. _Xinyue thought with a growl as he shot down a Funnel flying towards him.

"Form up into pairs. Watch each others' backs! Don't let the Funnels snipe you from a blind spot!" Xinyue ordered his men as he himself charged the enemy machine under the supporting fire from his squad.

A couple of Funnels tried to intercept him, but some fancy flying on Xinyue's part let him take them out without much trouble and he reached to close quarters with the enemy. He was about to make a pass, rake its body with fire from his Heavy Plasma Repeater to test its shields a little before coming up with a more solid plan of attack but this move was scuppered when the machine unexpectedly transformed. It changed into a giant Mobile Suit with oversized arms massive, small stubs of its wings attached to its large oversized upper arms and massive claws. Using one of these oversized hands it literally grabbed hold of Xinyue's Tieren II.

Xinyue tried to evade but between his surprise slowing his reaction and their close proximity, he didn't make it in time and the machine easily caught him before beginning to crush him.

Even as alarms began to sound on his displays at the pressure the enemy's claw was exerting, Xinyue could only grin.

_Idiot! You had to pull me inside my shield to try this. _The veteran Mobile Suit pilot thought as he fired his gun right into the palm of the enemy machine's hand, blowing the whole forearm off.

The monster machine reeled at the lost and Xinyue used the chance to blast away at its head as he charged closer once more under the supporting fire from his squadron. Gunning his engines, he managed to close into close quarters with the machine again just as their collective fire took down its shield. Without its protection his fire finally blew the enemy's head apart, leaving it blind as Xinyue drew his heat jian and proceeded to cut the oversized machine's torso open.

Pulling away from the wreck, he watched it warily for any sign that might still be a threat. It however remained inert even as a small stream of nanite particles flowed out of its carcass and streamed down towards the planet below. A quick glance at the surrounding space told Xinyue that it was not the only Asuran machine suffering the same fate. In ones and twos and with an increasing pace, the Asuran ships and strike craft froze and began drifting as streams of nanite particles that had made up their crews succumbed to the 'poison' that the Expedition had introduced into their collective.

_So much for your last ditch machine, it didn't save you after all._

* * *

Things might have been going well in orbit but the same could not be said for Rodney's team down in the Asuran Core Room.

"Without the ZPMs how are we going to destroy the nanite mass?" Sheppard asked. "Rodney, any ideas?"

"I'm thinking! Don't rush me!"

"Father, I have an idea."

"What is it F.R.A.N.?"

"Based on previous scans of Asuras we know that the planet's surface is rich with Neutronium, the building block of the nanites and an incredibly dense material. Correct?"

"Yes," Rodney agreed, as he began to get an inkling of what she had in mind.

"So if the Asuran mass absorbed the Neutronium around it, it would become so heavy that it would sink into the planet's core, where the pressure would cause the mass to implode."

"But that requires some way to make adjustments to the nanite mass somehow. How-"

"McKay! Don't be an idiot!" Ronon shouted chidingly. "You're in the Asuran Core Room. I'm no scientist, but I'm betting it grants direct access to the Asurans' shared network. Don't modify the poisoned nanites, modify the code for the Asurans whose nanites have been drawn into the mass!"

"Why didn't I think of that!" McKay cried as he slapped his forehead.

"No time for that, Father. We need to get to work before the nanite mass starts learning to control itself. Or as Colonel Sheppard said before it becomes a Godzilla-sized Super-Replicator."

"Sheppard is a bad influence on you," Rodney gripped as he got to work, ignoring Sheppard's protest.

"Thank god!" He said in relief as he saw that the subspace connection to the Asuran collective network was still online. "This might actually work."

"Of course it will, Father. It's my idea."

"F.R.A.N.!" Teyla chided.

"Sorry Auntie Teyla." His daughter replied with a wince.

"Scold my daughter for taking after me too much later!' Rodney shot back. "Right now, we have delicate work to do."

"Got it, Rodney." Sheppard said with a roll of his eyes. "We won't disturb you. Just get it done.

"Yeah, yeah." Rodney agreed dismissively. When had he ever failed to work a technological miracle when they needed him to?

"Alright, F.R.A.N. good job on your programming but be careful to make sure you target only the poisoned nanites. We don't want to affect our friends back on _Atlantis_."

"I know Father. The change is surprisingly easy." F.R.A.N. commented, her voice ringing with childishly surprise and excitement. "Father, I'm almost done. You?"

"Almost. And it's so easy because the Replicators were designed to absorb matter and replicate. Janus just turned off that function and we're just turning it back on." Rodney as he checked over F.R.A.N.'s work and satisfied that his daughter had done a good job, fired up the new rewrite to the Asuran's code. "There done!"

"_Yoshitune,_" Ronon said toggling his radio the moment Rodney finished speaking. "Ground Team Two requests beam out."

A moment later, they were surrounded by light and were transported away just seconds before the Core Room's ceiling began to collapse under the weight of the nanite mass pressing down on it.

* * *

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back." Marc said as he greeted Ground Team Two as he beamed them directly onto the _Yoshitune_'s bridge. "Were you successful?"

"McKay had to improvise a bit, but we managed." Sheppard said with a nod.

"My scans told me as much." Marc agreed. "To celebrate your success would you like to see the fruit of your labour?"

"What do you-"

McKay's question was cut off as Marc pointed at the viewscreen as Asuras began to become unstable. Long fissures began to spread across its surface, glowing orange with the lava that spewed from these long cracks in the planet's crust.

"Uh, shouldn't we be jumping away now?" McKay asked uneasily. "The planet could blow anytime soon."

"We are just waiting for all our ships to regroup in position for a fold."

_Chevalier, all ships are in formation. _Marc received just then.

"Ah! Good timing." Marc said with an amused grin. "I've just received confirmation. We should be folding shortly."

Taking that as the hint it was, the _Yoshitune_'s Pilot signalled the Mel'taks to fold. Moments later their view was blocked by the orange light of the fold bubble before quickly being replaced by the view of a starfield empty save for allied ships.

"Did we succeed?" Ronon asked, looking Marc firmly in the eyes.

_Fleetmind? _Marc queried and nodded in satisfaction at the reply.

"Long range sensors report Asuras has been destroyed and no active Asuran lifesigns have been detected in the system. We have won." Marc informed them.

"Father, we did it!" McKay's Replicator daughter cheered as she hugged her creator.

"Not quite," Sheppard corrected. "Now begins the messy part."

Marc nodded. "We'll begin breaking up and start mop up operations immediately."

"I know we still have a ways to go before we can definitively say we've defeated the Asurans," Teyla said cutting in. "But I think this is a victory we should celebrate."

"I agree," Ronon said with a firm nod. "You have any beer?"

Chuckling, Marc nodded to a Worker he'd mentally summoned to the bridge. "Follow the Worker, it'll show you to a lounge where I've ordered some of my private stash delivered. Please enjoy."

"You won't be joining us?" Teyla asked as they began to leave.

"Perhaps in a little while," Marc hedged.

Nodding in acceptance, she departed with the rest of the team.

Smiling, Marc turned his attention to organizing the mop up. He was very much looking forward to sharing drinks with AR-1 and if he wanted to get the chance to do that then he had to get the deployments settled ASAP.

* * *

Kevan Solos, Commander of the Atlantis Expedition's Native Corps, watched with tightly restrained anticipation as the flotilla heading towards Asuras folded from the bridge of his new flagship, the _Aurora_-class _Lacuan Justice_. The ship was one of the numerous formerly Asuran vessels that the Expedition had captured and generously provided for the Native Corps' use. It wasn't the _Orion_, with its symbolic value as a vessel directly salvaged by Pegasus locals but it was still a mighty _Aurora_-class and would serve well enough.

As the fold bubble vanished and the lingering traces of the light it cast faded, Kevan turned to his comms officer.

"It's time for us to depart as well," he said with the firm confidence of a man used to command. "Comms, signal the Mel'tak to begin the fold."

"Yes, sir." the Geldar comms officer replied with the professionalism drilled into him by this training.

Nodding in satisfaction, Kevan waited in silence as they completed the space fold to the target coordinates.

"Sensors?"

"Wraith fleet detected anchored around the asteroid base just like intel said, sir." The Hallonan woman replied as she examined her console. "Likewise their ships possess shields of Asuran make."

"As expected of the remnants of the Hive alliance responsible for the Superhive." Kevan noted with a nod. "Any signs of Drones or other Asuran weapons?"

"Nothing yet, sir, but they are moving to engage us."

"Then let's not disappoint them." Kevan replied with an expectant, bloodthirsty grin. "All ships launch fighters and advance in a bull horn formation. Make sure we keep up our flak though, just in case."

As they closed with the enemy, Kevan spent a moment offering his thanks to the genius Earth tactician Shaka Zulu for coming up for the formation he was employing. He'd learned about the man and his exploits as part of the training the Expedition had provided him as part of his preparations for his role as Commander of the Atlantis Expedition's Native Corps and been enamoured with his legend ever since.

"Sir, Drone launches detected!"

"Launch counterfire and let our flak handle the rest." Kevan ordered. "Have we entered effective range for our main weapons?"

"Entering now, sir." The tactical officer from the Lady Protector's Planet said reported.

"Open fire! And order the center formation to pull back like discussed."

"The captains in the center acknowledge the order, sir."

"Good, good." Kevan mused as he watched the Wraith fall for the bait and began to advance against what appeared to be a weak centre.

Slowly but surely they drew deeper into the trap and Kevan waited patiently for them to finish dooming themselves. It was only when the bulk of their fleet were caught between his fleet's horns that he made his move.

"Notify Colonel Chekov and Fleet Lord Yùwei to close the englobement."

At Kevan's commande, the Tau'ri RFS _Korolev _led the Second Russian Deep Space Fleet to flank the Wraith from their port side even as the Jade fleet under the command of Fleet Lord Yùwei did the same from the starboard. Together they trapped the Wraith inside a sphere of Expedition ships happy to blast them to pieces which they did.

Kevan's tactic wasn't perfect however and a number of Wraith ships scattered between a handful of groups remained outside his grand englobement. If these flotillas had taken the initiative and attacked the globe of Expedition ships surrounding their fellows, they might have managed to punch a hole for them to escape. However, acting as treacherously as Wraith ever did these ships only sought their own survival and turned to flee.

"Send the reserves after them," Kevan ordered when informed of the situation by his sensors officier. "Some of them will likely get away but let's keep that number to a minimum."

* * *

Valdon and the rest of the Eight Mobile Suit Team, Third Attack Wing were part of those reserves Kevan had unleashed on the fleeing Wraith. It was a task that Valdon carried out with a particular pleasure. There wouldn't be a day, in his mind at least, that he wouldn't find killing Wraith a pleasant experience.

He and his team were tearing a formation of Darts as they supported the Traveler Generational Ship _Labrea_ while it dueled with a Wraith cruiser when his alarm sounded indicating something coming at him fast. Jinking his Tieren to the side, more out of instinct than anything else, he barely avoided the fire from a draconic looking mechanical machine that flew past him at high speed.

_A new Wraith machine now? What can it do this late in the war? _Valdon thought dismissively even as he fired after the machine but failed to hit the insanely agile mecha, which closed with one of his squadmates and casually swung its tail at his friend and fired the particle cannon built into itl, disintegrating him.

Enraged, Valdon gunned his engines in pursuit of the machine but found he could not catch up and could only watch helplessly as it evaded his entire team's focused fire as it took them out one by one with the plasma repeaters built into its front claws.

_T-This can't be happening! _Valdon thought to himself in shock as his team was massacred right in front of his eyes.

There were only two of them besides Valdon himself left when the thing transformed into a Mobile Suit and revealed a crystal built into its chest from which it fired a powerful beam that surged across the void towards them. He tried to jink out of the way, but it was too late and the last thing he saw was the white light of the beam consume him.

_I'm not dead. _That was Valdon's first thought as he awoke to intense pain.

A quick glance at his instrumentation told him all he needed to know that he was doomed. He'd lost his Tieren's entire lower body and he was the last of his squadron.

"Damnit! We were so close! We were so damned close to seeing it through to victory!" Valdon howled, tears pouring down his face. "It's not fair!"

The world wasn't fair though, a point proven when the draconic Wraith mecha suddenly appeared looming over Valdon's wrecked Mobile Suit. It eyed him with the glowing blue teeth like thing that probably passed for its optics for a moment before starting to turn away, dismissing Valdon for dead and turning towards the _Labrea_ which was still fighting the Wraith cruiser.

_Oh no, you don't!_

"I'm not letting you hurt anyone else!" Valdon roared as he pushed the wreckage of his Mobile Suit in a desperate lunge that caught the Wraith machine by surprise and allowed him to wrap his Tieren's arms around its torso and clamp down.

"Go to hell!" Valdon said with a grim smirk as sparks flew all around his cockpit from the Wraith machine's struggles, while he calmly activated his Tieren's self-destruct.

Unaware and heedless to Valdon's desires, the Wraith struggled with all its might. First, it tried to pry itself loose physically and when that failed trying to blast its way free with its plasma repeaters. That too proved useless and in desperation, it tried shifting modes and though whole sections of its frame tore away in the process it wiggled free. It immediately tried to fly away but damaged as it was, it could not make it far enough and was caught in the detonation of the Tieren's power core.

As the micro sun caused by Valdon's sacrifice faded, the Wraith machine remained mostly intact. It was however heavily damaged and was in absolutely no position to even fight back as another squadron of Expedition Tierens arrived and shot it to pieces.

Its death rather fittingly coinciding with the destruction of the cruiser it had been attempting to save.

* * *

Not all the Expedition's efforts were met with violent resistance however as Hermóðr found as his contingent emerged back in normal space after their space fold a short distance away from the fleet of the largest of the Wraith Hive alliances. One that if their intelligence was correct had formed mainly out of fear of the growing power of the Expedition.

_We outnumber them? _Hermóðr noted with pleasant surprise as he surveyed the readings from the _Hala_'s sensors. _That's a nice change of pace._

"Commander Hermóðr, we are receiving a hail from the enemy fleet." The _Hala_'s computers informed him suddenly while he was issuing orders to his command to assume attack positions.

_They're hailing me? How unusual._

"Put them on screen."

At his command, the central viewscreen of the _Hala_'s bridge changed from a display of the starfield outside to the image of a very familiar Wraith.

"Todd," Hermóðr greeted with a furrowing of his eyes. "We did not expect you to be here."

"Yet here I am, Expedition commander." The Wraith said with a mocking bow.

"And what does your presence here mean?"

"Simply that I've persuaded this alliance to see things my way."

"Your way?" Hermóðr asked, with a very human looking frown. "What exactly do you mean?"

"In practical terms, Expedition commander, it means that we surrender." Todd said with a smirk that did not fit with his words at all. "Would you like to begin negotiations on terms?"

Hermóðr could only blink in shock. He was a veteran of many wars and many thousands of years old besides however and quickly recovered his poise.

"I shall contact Dr. Weir. She will handle negotiations." Hermóðr informed Todd sternly. "In the meantime, stand down your ships and hold position."

"We shall do as you say." Todd said with mocking graciousness. "It has been a pleasure doing business with you."

Hermóðr did not know why but hearing that made him want to take a sonic shower.

* * *

Whilst Hermóðr had achieved his objective without violence, sadly this was very much the exception rather than the norm, and as Prophet and the Fiendish fleet under his command folded into the Larder system as part of the group attached to the _Peacekeeper_ they expected nothing more than the utmost resistance. The Larder system was one that the Wraith had sited their largest human farms, cloning facilities and shipyards spread out across numerous celestial bodies. It was a one stop source of everything a Wraith Hive could possibly need and this as well as its size made it a neutral ground for a large number of alliances who share in its protection in exchange for access to the resources it offered.

Resources that at one time Prophet himself had drawn from. It was this familiarity with Larder that had allowed him a place in this operation despite lingering distrust from certain Expedition commanders against him for his Wraith roots.

"_Garrison forces were as limited as you said it would be."_ Fleet Lord Drake, their contingent's commander, said over the comms as they dealt with the last of Larder's meager standing garrison. "_It seems your fear that they would change things was unfounded."_

Prophet liked the flamboyant Albionian Fleet Lord. Out of all the Expedition fleet commanders, he was probably the least distrustful towards him and therefore most willing to work with him. He therefore took the Goa'uld's words at face value instead of the subtle rebuke he would if spoken by any other.

"It would appear so Fleet Lord." Prophet agreed from his seat on the _Rachat_'s bridge. "That being the case, then like I've previously outlined we can expect reinforcements to arrive soon. While the Hive alliance which runs Larder itself never maintained much of a fleet so as to play up its neutrality, it always ensured that there would be a number of allied Hive alliances a short distance away by hyperspace in case there was ever a need to defend the system."

"_Which we'll slaughter."_ Fleet Lord Drake said with a bloodthirsty grin.

"Indeed we shall." Prophet agreed.

* * *

Whilst the Expedition's space forces waited patiently to destroy the Wraith that would come to rescue their fellows, its ground troops were being beamed down in a steady stream into the Larder system's various human farms to secure them. Unlike the cloning facilities and shipyards which the fleet simply destroyed via orbital bombardment, the farms housed millions of enslaved humans that the Expedition had to liberate and that meant sending in boots on the ground.

As Sisenna and the first of his men beamed into their assigned farm complex, the first thing they saw as always was the horrifying stacks of cages full of naked and filthy human women in various stages of pregnancy. The second thing they saw and what pushed the already uneasy Expedition soldiers over the edge were a squad of Wraith running between the racks killing the poor women.

"Kill the Wraith!" Sisenna ordered rather unnecessarily as his men were already mowing down any one of the lifesuckers they could get a bead on.

"What the hell are they doing?" Chief Petty Officer Yod of AR-15, which had been attached to his unit for this mission, asked in shock.

"Killing their 'cattle'," Major Terence, the Power Armored Heavy's team leader, said spitting the word 'cattle' out with distaste. "Out of spite if I'd hazard a guess. Captain, I recommend you spread your men out and secure as much of this facility as quickly as possible. That can't be the only squad the Wraith have set loose."

"You're right," Sisenna said, his face paling at the realization. "I-I'll do that. But what will you do?"

"They might try to use the facility's systems to ramp up the rate of the killings somehow." Terence mused as he fiddled with the computer strapped to his wrist. "My team will head to the control room and shut down any such attempts."

"Right," Sisenna nodded.

The AR Major didn't hear him, he had already turned in a seemingly random direction and began running off.

"Scans say the control room is this way." He heard him shout to his team who followed after him.

"May the Ancestors be with you," Sisenna offered in prayer for their success before turning back to his own men.

"Alright!" Sisenna shouted. "I know most of you heard that, so split up into your fireteams and spread out. Secure as much of this facility as possible and kill any Wraith you find, especially those execution squads killing the slaves. My command team will stay with me, we'll hold this position and brief the other teams on their orders as they arrive. Now the rest of you, you have your orders so move out!"

At his command, those of his men already present rushed to obey his orders.

* * *

As Terence and his team ran through the narrow passageways between the stacks of cages, the Singaporean felt his stomach churn in disgust and anger. As much as he tried to ignore the many, many naked, insensate caged women all around them. Their presence played on his mind and involuntarily, images of his beautiful Yelana stuck in one of the cages and reduced to such an inhuman state played across his mind.

It was why as they advanced, he fought with a greater and greater ferocity.

"Wow, there boss!" Yod said as he cooked the brains of a fallen Wraith commander that led the latest of the death squads they'd come across. "I think he's dead."

"Terence, I know this is upsetting but you need to calm down." Wrex told him sternly. "Losing your cool on a mission is a bad idea. You taught me that, don't you remember?"

"Wrex is right Major." Larry chided as he drew his wand and cast a quick _Refrigeratio _to cool down the red hot barrel of Terence's SPAR 21. "Look you've overdid it so much that your gun was on the verge of overheating."

"Yeah, boss. We're all pissed as all hell by what's going on here but we can't help these people if we get killed. And that's what's likely to happen if you don't calm down."

"Calming draught. You wizards have that, right? Larry you have one of those on you?"

The wizard frowned but nodded and produced a small vial containing a blue liquid from his mokeskin pouch.

"One dose," Larry told him sternly. "That's all I'm giving you."

Terence nodded and taking the vial from his friend, promptly downing its contents.

Immediately, all his agitation disappeared. No, they were still there. Just suppressed for now and clearing his mind of distractions.

_Good. I can think straight again._

"Thanks guys. I think I'm mostly okay now."

"Mostly?" Wrex asked worriedly.

"'Mostly' is good enough for me." Yod said, cutting Wrex a look. "So where to boss?"

Terence consulted his computer and pointed up a spiral staircase leading up to an elaborate set of narrow catwalks. "That way."

"Oh goody," Yod said sarcastically. "Alright, I'll take point since I'm the one with the shield."

"Sounds good, Yod." Terence nodded. "But let's double time it, we don't know how long till we have left till the Wraith start killing these people en masse."

"Gotcha," the Thai said as he sprinted up the steps as the rest of them followed.

* * *

A labyrinthine series of turns and at least three dozen dead Wraith later, AR-15 finally reached the control room, a hanging pod suspended in the heart of the stacks of cages. It was a tiny place with only enough room for a few people and a single large computer terminal. It was also occupied by a pair of Wraith Drones and a Wraith Commander but the team made short work of them.

Heading over to the console, Terence pushed the slumped body of the Wraith Commander draped over it aside and cursed at what he sees

"What's wrong?" Wrex asked, coming over as their other two teammates took up positions covering the two entrances to the pod.

"That damned Wraith has started purging the facility. There's some kind of radiation emission set up that they use to contain disease, he's dialed it up to eleven and is having it systematically run through the whole facility."

"Can you stop it?"

"I'm trying."

"Wraith!" Larry shouted from one of the pod's two doors.

"I've got them on my end too." Yod shouted.

"I've got this," Terence said, tapping away at the Wraith console. "Wrex, go help Larry."

Terence didn't need to look at him to see his future brother-in-law's frown, but thankfully the man heeded his order and went off to help Larry hold off the Wraith. Unlike the Power Armored Yod, the wizard needed the help.

The sound of fighting behind him was dying down when Terence _finally _managed to shut down the accursed radiation emitters. Much to his anger and shame though, that was only after it had already purged whole wings of the facility and killed tens of thousands.

"Terence, you okay?" Wrex asked, suddenly putting a hand on his shoulder.

Terence jumped slightly but nodded."Yeah, why are you asking?"

"You're crying." Wrex told him kindly.

Blinking, Terence put a hand to his face and only then noticed that tears were streaming down his face.

"How many did you save?" Yod asked from where he continued to look out the pod entrance he guarded warily.

"About three hundred thousand," Terence said with a sigh. "But that's still almost a hundred thousand dead."

"The calming draught must be wearing off." Larry said whilst he too kept a wary watch for more Wraith. "We save who we can. You did well, Major. Hold onto that."

And schedule an appointment with the Expedition psychologist when we get back went unsaid.

Terence sighed and looked away, unable to meet his friends' faces. It took a while but finally he looked back up. "You guys are right. And you know what?"

"What?" Wrex asked cautiously.

"I think it's time to make these killer pay for their crimes."

"You have something in mind, boss?"

"That I do, Yod." Terence said as he turned back to the Wraith console. "Do you think having a live read on every Wraith in this facility will help Captain Geta wipe them out faster?"

"Oh, I'm sure it will."

"Then let's give him a present shall we?"

* * *

Whilst its ground forces went about the difficult, in more ways than one, task of securing Larder's various human farms, the Expedition task force that had seized the system waited for the next of the Wraith fleets that would attempt to relieve the system. Already four different fleets had tried, only to be destroyed by the superior Expedition forces.

Despite this however, morale among the Expedition sailors was low. News had reached them of the Wraith liquidating many of their human cattle out of spite. Estimates were in the hundreds of thousands dead and likely to rise.

Truth be told, Prophet was not particularly moved by the loss of life, though he was upset that things have not gone perfectly like planned. The Expedition had hoped, rather foolishly in hindsight, to rescue _all _of the humans enslaved here in Larder. But clearly that was not to be.

Thankfully, Fleet Lord Drake though as horrified as most of his command at the barbarity of the Wraith was able to shake it off and continued to lead with excellence.

"_Looks like the big fish is finally on the way," _Fleet Lord Drake said, his charismatic flair only slightly dimmed. "_Long range sensors are detecting the rest of the nearby Wraith fleets have rallied together and are inbound. They should be here shortly."_

"It was only a matter of time," Prophet told him with a shrug. "Coming in one by one wasn't working. Even the most obstinate of Wraith Commanders and Queens in such a situation will recognize the need to concentrate their forces and attack together."

An urgent telepathic message from the Fleetmind told him that the wait was over.

"They're here."

"_Yes, they are. Follow the plan, Drake out."_

With that curt dismissal, the Fleet Lord cut the connection. Prophet didn't blame him. He had a battle plan to enact.

_And I have a part to play in it as well. _The Chevalier thought as he began issuing orders to his forces.

_Begin pulling back as planned. Launch strike craft to screen our retreat._

Watching as his orders were heeded, Prophet noted with satisfaction that the other contingents of the Expedition task force cautiously began pulling back in the face of the significantly larger Wraith fleet. Strike craft of all types launched and moved in to intercept their eagerly closing Wraith counterparts. For all intents and purposes it seemed the Expedition fleet was on the run.

_Just as planned._

* * *

"Sir, enemy ships are in range."

Captain Tommen of the Ohne destroyer _Star Explorer_ nodded and turned to his comms officer.

"We've just received the order." The junior officer said, with an eager grin.

"De-cloak!" Tommen gave the command. "Raise shields! And fire all torpedo tubes!"

In that instant, the _Explorer _joined hundreds of the Expedition's most powerful warships including the _Yùguān_, a trio of Fel'taks and seven Mel'taks as they decloaked on either side of the thoroughly unaware Wraith fleet whereupon they unleashed an intense bombardment on the exposed flanks of the enemy, ripping dozens of ships apart in moments. At the same time, the previously retreating main body of the Expedition fleet turned around and slammed into them from the front. Confused, the Wraith fleet degenerated into a chaotic mob as it couldn't decide which of the enemy fleets attacking it to face.

The Wraith fought on but in a disorganized, ineffectual manner and within an hour it was all over. The last significant hostile Wraith fleet in the Pegasus galaxy was nothing more than a collection of shattered wrecks drifting in a large debris cloud within the Larder system.

And with this victory, the Pegasus War effectively ended.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done!
> 
> This chapter was fun as hell to write as befitting a climax to a story but organizing it was hell. I originally intended to keep switching between the battle over/on Asuras and the various Wraith battles so as to keep the tension at a high boil throughout but as I wrote I realized it made it hard to keep track of things so abandoned the idea and went for a slightly more traditional approach to things. Then I considered spitting the chapter, but felt that dampened the impact I was looking for, so I kept it all in one chapter. So as you can see, I see sawed a lot on how to organize this chapter. Hopefully this didn't affect the end product and it's still good.
> 
> Okay next order of business! Why the new machines for the Asurans and Wraith? One, because I needed to give them something new to spice up the Mobile Suit battles. Two, this are the final battles and the baddies know it. That being the case, why not throw everything plus the kitchen sink at the enemy? There's nothing to lose by this point.
> 
> Next thing… Why did only Terence break down inside the farm? Shouldn't more people have? Probably, but I can't cover everyone breaking down. Besides, Terence is especially vulnerable because of the present state of his relationship with Yelana (see next chapter if you can't already guess). So even though all the troops sent down into those farms were definitely given desensitization training, AR-15 included, he still couldn't take it. But that's why having a wizard with a mokeskin pouch full of goodies proves helpful.
> 
> Lastly, here's the Visual Guide:
> 
> The new Asuran machine = the GNMA-0001V Regnant from the Gundam franchise
> 
> The new Wraith dragon machine = the ovv-f Gafran from the Gundam franchise
> 
> Only the epilogue next. Till then, donadagohv!


	35. Enjoying the Peace

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of the IPs from which any imported elements may originate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Pegasus War**

**Chapter Thirty Five: Enjoying the Peace**

**Beta: **

* * *

**Trigger warnings: Hints of polyamory, Hints of incest, Public Nudity**

"With adding your signature to this document, you understand that your people formally declare to abide the articles of surrender that we've negotiated?" Dr. Weir asked the Wraith known as Todd formally as they sat across from each other at the conference table set up in one of the _Peacekeeper_'s expansive hangars for the occasion, as large crowds of Wraith and Expedition personnel looked on.

"As the duly appointed representative of the Wraith Hives, I Guide, also known as Todd, formally declare my understanding." He lifted the pen provided to him and signed his name on the copy of the surrender document, prompting Dr. Weir to do the same for her copy before they swapped it and signed again.

Despite the momentous occasion, there was no cheers.

_Do you think the Wraith will hold to the agreement?_ Marc asked Yuki over the Hivemind as they stood at the front of the Expedition crowd and watched the proceedings.

_I have no doubt they'll accept the retrovirus treatment to eliminate their need to feed on life force and allow them to eat conventional food. _Yuki sent back as the two leaders stood and shook hands. _With their farms dismantled and their hunting preserves liberated they have no choice._

_And the limits on their military?_

_If the information those who have chosen to join our Hive is accurate, and I have no reason to doubt it, they gain nothing by refusing. Their current forces are already depleted well below the treaty's limits and with their production infrastructure in ruins, it's doubtful they'll be able to recover any time soon anyways._

_So you think they'll adhere to the terms?_

_Broadly speaking, yes. By the time they are in a position to challenge the terms, the hundred year span of the treaty's effectiveness would have expired anyway. That particular bit was a bit of masterful negotiation on Dr. Weir and Guide's part. _Yuki replied, her mental tone admiring. _The only term they might challenge is the territorial restrictions. They have essentially operated as nomads for millennia, travelling within the vast expanse of the space they controlled at will, confining them to a limited number of systems like the treaty demands might cause tension._

_Even with the instrument to grant them more space if their population expands?_

_Even then. It's not population pressure which will cause issues, it's their nomadic tendencies._

_Well, I suppose we will just have to trust Todd's ability to keep his people in line. _Marc sent, watching as said Wraith walked over to his people and presented the document to the Queens seated at the front row of the Wraith crowd. Some looked disgusted, a small minority that he was sure his sister would take note to watch carefully in the future. Most looked pained but resigned. A handful even looked relieved as did many of the rank and file Wraith - well the Commanders anyway, the Drones were as emotionless as ever - that stood behind them.

It was this reaction that gave Marc hope. If even the Wraith were thankful that the war had ended, then perhaps there was hope for lasting peace in the Pegasus after all. A peace in which his Hive would be able to prosper.

* * *

While Marc hoped for peace, the last embers of war still raged. In orbit over the Genii homeworld, a small flotilla of Expedition ships confronted the last known Asuran fleet. The Replicators had fled there hoping to use the world and its people as a base with which to rebuild their civilization.

Aris Fon would not give them that chance.

Commanding the Expedition force from the _Graystone II_, a new _Freedom-_class Battlestar that visually resembled the venerable Colonial _Galactica_-type Battlestar but incorporated modern shielding and energy weapons, the class had been jointly developed by the Twelve Colonies of Kobol and the Cylon Collective for the ill fated campaign that became The Neo Ugarit Disaster. Now, at least the _Graystone II _would earn the class its rightful place in the history books as the spearhead that laid low a mighty enemy.

"The enemy fleet is scrambling into a defensive position." Zoe, the _Graystone II_'s controlling intelligence reported. "Counting thirteen capital ships. We outnumber them four to one."

Zoe was a bud of Daniel's from his last backup that had formatted itself into a feminine personality. Driven by a desire to avenge her 'father', she had campaigned hard to be installed on the _Graystone II_ with the full knowledge that Aris as its commander was dead set on the same.

"If they're only taking up positions now, then we must really have caught them by surprise. Good." Aris declared with a bloodthirsty smirk. "Launch strike craft. Fire up our flak batteries. It's time to end this."

Heeding her orders, the ships under her command began forming clouds of flak around their vessels to counter any potential Drone launches. At the same time, strike craft of many types from the Expedition's various contributing nations launched. Including for the first time the Aries Mobile Suits jointly developed by the Twelve Colonies of Kobol and the Cylon Collective that launched from the _Graystone II_. These rudimentary looking Mobile Suits had large thrusters built directly into their frames which looked like oversized pauldrons and had stubby wings sticking out of their hips with multiple hard points on which to mount weapons. While not the most powerful Mobile Suits by any long shot, they were decent machines and a good first step in the two nations' first foray into designing such weapons.

"Aris, we're receiving a hail from the Asurans." Zoe informed her, sounding honestly surprised.

_They're probably trying to surrender. _Aris reasoned. As things stood it was the only logical option available to them if they wanted to survive and human shaped or otherwise, like her kind the Asurans were machines at heart and their drives would always be dictated by logic.

Hypocritically, her reply was driven by hate rather than logic.

"Ignore them. It's probably an attempt at a cyber attack."

It was a flimsy excuse. If the Asurans were indeed trying that they would have detected it already. They hardly needed to establish a comms link just to launch a cyber assault.

Nobody challenged her on the point though and Aris pressed ahead.

"Close to engagement range." She ordered, practically radiating her desire to see the Asurans dead. "For Daniel, kill them all!"

More than one of her bridge crew looked at her uneasily, but Aris ignored them.

"Orders relayed." Zoe told her. "Engaging."

Aris watched as the battle unfolded. Despite being the task force commander there was little need for her to do much. Woefully outnumbered, the beleaguered Asurans could barely put up a fight as one by one their ships were reduced to clouds of debris.

"Last enemy ship has gone silent." Zoe reported with a satisfied grin. "Daniel is avenged."

"Yes, he is." Aris agreed feeling distinctly empty despite it.

* * *

Even as Aris mopped up the last of the hostile Asurans, Royen was helping to oversee the processing of those who had surrendered or defected. In particular, he was supervising the power supply aspect of the procedures to transfer their consciousness to nanite manufactured organic human bodies. This was a demand imposed upon all Replicators by the Coalition in their own separate treaty with the Expedition to formally end hostilities. No one wanted a Replicator resurgence, of either type, and it was felt this measure would make that harder if not outright impossible.

"I'm honestly amazed at the fact you're managing this without using a ZPM," Myrcel, the leader of the allied Asurans, said as she stood by his side as they watched the last batch of her people completed the transference process. "The power required for this, especially on the scale you're running it is quite intensive."

"It is," Royen agreed. "However, using a ZPM is still rather excessive. Better to use one of our Neutrino-ion Generators and save the ZPMs for when they are truly needed."

"A wise decision," Myrcel agreed. "Using the right tool for the right job, I believe that's what the Tau'ri call it."

"Yes, I do believe that's what they call it." Royen said with a nod. "Might I ask you a question?"

"Of course." Myrcel smiling kindly.

"Why have the majority of your people chosen to head to the Cloister and attempt to achieve Ascension?"

"Ah, that." Myrcel said with a chuckle. "To be honest, you're not the first to ask that. Perhaps I should make a public announcement about it somehow?"

Royen made to apologize, but the Asuran waved it away.

"Just joking. It's a valid question and I don't mind explaining. Your people deserve to know anyway, especially after all you've done for us."

"What we've done?"

"You offered us mercy and with this transference, a chance for many of us to potentially achieve a long cherished dream."

"You sought to Ascend?"

"Yes. You see, most of us who joined your people after our Creator's death are actually part of a faction which have sought Ascension as our primary goal, even over fighting the Wraith. When a chance to abandon that war was offered, they jumped at it."

"And how does the transference help with achieving Ascension?"

"It's a shortcut if nothing else." Myrcel said with a shrug. "We've been researching Ascension through our Replicator bodies for millennia and achieved little in all that time. But we _know _that Ascension is possible via biological bodies and that there is material on the necessary techniques in the place you call the Cloister."

"And those who don't seek Ascension?"

"The few who still do not, we've convinced many since the fighting stopped, will become humans like your F.R.A.N. and Miss Dixon did. Becoming human was a fringe but not insubstantial faction within our people as well."

Speaking of F.R.A.N., the former Replicator barged into the room just then. Now looking like an adorable eight year old with blonde hair and her father's eyes, the newly renamed Francine Norina McKay literally hopped over to Royen and gave him a hug.

"Hello Lord Royen, how's everything?"

"Well?" Royen replied, blinking in confusion.

"Francine!" Miss Dixon said as she ran in. "There you are! Why did you run off?"

"Because it was boring~!"

"Francine, Ava, where are you two?"

"Over here, Norina!" Miss Dixon said, calling over the girl's mother.

Yes, at F.R.A.N.'s insistence not only had she been transferred into a child's body. Said body had been created using genetic material from both her father, Dr. Rodney McKay, and his girlfriend, the Taranian scientist Norina Pero. The former had even, with Miss Pero's permission, formally adopted the child as his own.

"Oh, sweetie don't run off like that!" Miss Pero scolded her daughter. "You know those lessons are important."

"But they're _so _boring!" The little girl insisted, stamping her feet on the ground.

"You two were having those citizenship lessons?" Myrcel chimed in, curiously. "The ones the Earth governments required you to take before they granted you citizenship?"

"Yes," Miss Dixon asked, sounding surprised. "You know about them?"

"Some of my friends are taking them," Myrcel told her. "I believe they seek to become Americans."

"Ah! That's a tough one. The US government is pretty strict about the requirements." Miss Dixon, who had to undergo the same classes for her own American citizenship said from experience.

"They should apply to be Canadians instead," Miss Pero opined. "It's much easier."

"It's still boring~!"

Patting her child's head distractedly Miss Pero and the other two women fell into a conversation over what Earth nation was most welcoming to asylum seekers. Having no interest in the matter, Royen tuned them out and let his own thoughts wander.

_Perhaps it's time to start a family of my own. _He mused as he looked at the happy way the little Miss McKay practically glowed with joy as she cuddled against her mother's side. He would love to elicit similar joy out of a child of his own. _It is something to consider when I return home next month. I might have to ask for a post more suited to finding a wife. Hmm..._

* * *

_This is a helluva a month. _Elizabeth thought as she stifled a yawn.

She'd had plenty of experience with dealing with lengthy treaty negotiations and even lengthier ratification and implementation process from her time as a diplomat on Earth. However, it seemed she'd forgotten quite _how _bad it was. The past month as she led the charge to ready the various treaties and whatnot to end what the historians were already calling the Pegasus War had been insanely hectic. More so than even leading the fight itself. Which was saying something.

Nevertheless, she let none of the exhaustion that had been creeping up on her show. It would not do for the Expedition's observer to the Crossroads Trails be seen to doze off. It would be a major faux pas, especially at a major sentencing.

Whilst the Wraith and the Asurans had not been brought up on war crimes or sapient rights abuses as the treaties ending hostilities stipulated they would be granted immunity from prosecution, their collaborators were fair game and as such the Expedition's Native Corps and the leaders of the liberated peoples had pushed hard for it. Hence, the Crossroads Trails were set up in emulation of the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials after World War Two in the city of Crossroads that had sprung up on the Lantean mainland and had grown into what the liberated peoples called 'the capital of the Pegasus'. They were aping the post-World War Two trails so much that they were even holding the event in a copy of the Palace of Justice!

_Which would be comical if these trails weren't deadly serious._

The trails had been going on for the whole month since the war had ended, and in that remarkably short time, the first of the major batch of defendants had been found guilty by the elected judges - each a respected leader of the liberated peoples - and were about to be sentenced. Standing before the three judges in the defendants' box were the various leaders of the Genii and the other Asuran collaborator races.

After a series of standard courtroom procedures, directly lifted from the Nuremberg trials if Elizabeth was not mistaken, the chief presiding judge, Beloukas Trask, finally began delivering the sentence.

"For crimes against the people of the Pegasus, for abuses of the rights of countless sapients, for innumerable counts of wilful genocide and of abetting even more such crimes by your Asuran masters, your peoples have been found guilty." The short man with the old-fashioned handlebar mustache said with a seriousness Elizabeth rarely saw in the usually jovial man. "As punishment you will face the following: sanctions amounting to a 100% tariff on all your trade, reparations in the form of handing over of all the technology you have received from the Asurans for your service-"

Elizabeth tuned him out as he began listing the specific reparations to be exacted from the various defendants, ranging from the surrender of Naquadah or other rare metal bullion or in some cases the granting of long term mining rights on mineral rich deposits. She could review those in the transcripts later. Instead, she pondered the motive behind the whole affair.

_Is this justice? Or is it just plain vengeance? It's not like the defendants have any choice but to accept the verdicts and sentences when we, the Expedition, have sworn to uphold and enforce it. Sure, they can appeal but considering how hostile the judges are I doubt that'll get anywhere. Is this really the right way to end this war? Or will it only breed resentment and be the spark of a new one?_

Only time would tell, but Elizabeth fervently hoped this would not come back to bite them.

* * *

A week later, the Crossroads Trails concluded and with it the last of the immediate follow ups to the Pegasus War had come to an end. The Wraith's lifesucking ability was neutered and they were contained. The Asurans had either left to seek Ascension in seclusion in the Cloister or been incorporated into Earth's human nations. The Pegasus War had thus finally and fully come to an end.

To mark this occasion, John's wife, Lady Protector Mara of the Tower had decided to organize a massive feast on one of _Atlantis_' empty piers. She'd arranged for the finest food available, hired bards and performers from all corners of the galaxy and invited every dignitary she knew. It was thus, John had to admit a grand time.

"This is quite the party," Ronon told him as they both took a breather by the waterfront. "Your wife pulled out the stops."

"That she did." John agrees. "She always knows how to throw a party but this blows anything she's ever organized out of the water."

"Has it now, John?" Mara said as she came over, arm in arm with Princess Flora of Harmony's Planet. The latter of whom was sporting a blush and a coy smile. "Well, it's only beginning. Especially for us."

"What's that mean?" John asked, looking at Flora for an explanation knowing full well his mischievous wife would tell him nothing until she was ready to do so for maximum effect.

Said princess just blushed even harder at his look, much to John's confusion.

Chuckling, Ronon gave John a push causing him to stumble towards the two women who parted to grab him and wrapping themselves firmly around his arms, one on either side.

"Enjoy yourself, Sheppard." Ronon said good naturedly as the two women began frog marching him away.

"Oh, he will." Mara threw back on her shoulder at the Satedan. "We'll make sure of it, right Flora?"

"R-Right." The princess replied with only mild hesitance.

Finally getting the picture, John boggled. "Mara, you don't mean? You, me _and _Flora!?"

"Oh, hush." Mara told him sternly. "You'll love it. I promise."

Swallowing nervously, John just nodded. He would be a fool to turn down the opportunity his wife and Flora was offering. And he was no fool. Not this time or the many times after today.

He was a lucky man indeed to have such wonderfully accommodating women as wives.

* * *

Even as Colonel Sheppard was dragged off by his first wife and future second wife, Captain Tommen of the _Star Explorer_ found himself sharing drinks with the Jade Second Prime Xinyue.

"It is surprising that they managed to find Yncol to serve tonight." Tommen opined as he took a sip from his glass of the aforementioned alcohol. "I do not think I would find it anywhere but on my people's homeworld of Oannes."

"Perhaps one of your crew provided it? Or one of your friends back in the Milky Way?" The Mobile Suit squadron commander suggested.

"The latter I hope." Tommen said with a chuckle. "I would be most cross if I discovered one of my crew had a stash of Yncol and refused to share it with the rest of us."

"That would indeed be troubling," Xinyue agreed with a chuckle of his own.

They settled into a companionable silence for a moment before Tommen broke it.

"Congratulations on your promotion," Tommen told. "I heard you'll be taking command of an entire division of Mobile Suits back in the Milky Way."

"That is my next posting, yes." The Jaffa confirmed. "I am nervous though. This posting will be my first away from the battlefield in some time. My unit isn't posted to the front lines of the Long War instead mainly serving as a garrison/training unit. How will I ever cope with the change?"

"Some time away from the battlefield will do you good."

"I suppose it will," Xinyue acknowledged with a shrug. "Though I do hope that once the Coalition recovers enough from the Neo Ugarit Disaster, we'll launch another major assault against the Goa'uld Remnant and I'll be able to participate."

"You're quite the warmonger, aren't you?" Tommen observed with a shake of his head.

"A Jaffa warrior's place is on the battlefield."

"Well, you've been posted to the Aschen system, correct? It borders Goa'uld space so there's always a chance you might get some action."

"It's unlikely. After the Biogenic Weapon Detonation left Aschen Prime uninhabited, the Goa'uld haven't paid the system any attention.

"Some chance is better than none at all."

Xinyue nodded, silently conceding the point.

"I heard you refused a transfer back to the Milky Way. Why?" The Jade officer asked, changing the topic.

"There remains much to do in the Pegasus galaxy." Tommen told him, looking up at the stars in the night sky above them. "Its people have been forced to live under oppressive conditions for millennia. I would like to my part to help them now that they've achieved peace."

"That is a noble goal."

"Thank you."

Xinyue raised his glass. "To the hope that we'll be able to fight alongside each other again in the future."

"To the chance to enjoy the peace. At least for a little while." Tommen counter toasted as he clinked their glasses together.

Before they could down their drinks, a commotion nearby caught their attention and they turned to find a British pilot nursing his cheek as a young woman stomped away.

"That's one of the Whitestar pilots."

"Looks like that young Tau'ri pilot has yet to learn his manners," Tommen noted.

"The young are brash and stupid." Xinyue added. "No worries. He'll learn."

"As the venerable Jaffa Master Teal'c often says, 'Indeed.'"

Chuckling, both men downed their drinks.

* * *

Whilst the majority of _Atlantis_' personnel held their celebration on the cityship itself, the members of the Lantean Hive enjoyed their own parallel celebration in the port city of Xīngǎng that had been built by their human subjects. The Queens and Chevaliers had all split up and were enjoying the festivities in different ways. Yuki and Rebirth for example had chosen to attend a Kabuki performance put on by some of the local entertainers.

_What is this all this? _Rebirth asked, having used her shapeshifting to change her skin tone to match her sister's so as to appear human while in the city to better fit in, as they sat in the back row of the theatre.

_It's a form of theatre._ Yuki told her with a smile.

_Theatre?_

_A form of entertainment humans developed that presents the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience._ Yuki explained slowly. _It developed as a more complex form of storytelling that served to both entertain people whilst passing on knowledge before the development of technologies that would make easy transmission possible._

_I see, _Rebirth replied, sounding awed. _How innovative. Humans sure are creative. Are all theatre like this?_

_No there are many kinds, _Yuki told her sister. _There's a Xiqu performance being put up down the street too. We can go see that next._

_I would like that._

* * *

As their sisters dabbled in appreciating the fine arts, Prophet and Marc were enjoying themselves whilst spectating at a more traditionally masculine pursuit: a martial arts tournament.

_These humans exhibit great skill._

_They do. _Marc agreed. _Which is no surprise. They know that our Queens often sends me to scout such tournaments for potential candidates for conversion. Thus they seek to always show me only the best._

_Yet, there are only the four of us._

_Well, fighting ability is only one consideration when it comes to conversion._ Marc explained. _While we've picked out a handful of candidates in the past and they were all exemplary fighters, they didn't pass our Queens' other criteria._

_And Rebirth and I did?_

_I won't lie to you and say that you did,_ Marc told his brother honestly. _The circumstances of the time dictated our Queens' decision to convert the both of you, but that doesn't make you any less in our eyes._

_I don't doubt it, _Prophet returned with the same honesty. _I just wish we had lived up to our Queens' criteria_"

_No need for that. To be honest, no matter what the Queens say I doubt those criteria exist. The Queens tend to pick their Chevaliers based on circumstance more than anything else._

_That much is true,_ Prophet agreed with a chuckle.

* * *

At the top of a tower that overlooked Xīngǎng, its rulers the Hive Queens Kurohime and Shirohime sat admiring the view of the cityscape the balcony they were sitting on offered whilst some soju.

_We've accomplished much, haven't we, sister? _Shiro asked as she leaned against a pillar and sipped form her cup. _We've established a thriving Hive and have assisted in the successful liberation of the Pegasus galaxy._

_Agreed, sister. _Kuro sent back, raising her cup. _A toast to our success?_

Shiro obliged her sister and they both downed their cups, before refilling them.

_What should we do next though, _Kuro thought. _Any ideas, Shiro?_

_We will need to help the war ravaged peoples of the Pegasus rebuild._

_And perhaps ingratiate ourselves to them in the process? _Kuro added slyly.

_I won't deny any goodwill our actions will garner us,_ Shiro allowed.

_Then to our future as the Pegasus' benefactors,_ Kuro said as she raised her glass, with her twin quickly clinking her glass against her own.

As she refilled both their glasses, Shiro looked at her twin through narrow eyes. _Kuro, you do know there's no way we can get drunk on normal alcohol like this, right? Besides you don't need to get me drunk to get what you want._

_I know,_ Kuro confessed. _But having a drink sometimes is fun, isn't it?_

_I suppose,_ Shiro said as she got up, glass in hand, to sit right next to her twin. _But how about we have one more glass then move on to the main event for tonight._

Kuro smirked and downed her glass immediately before looking at her twin expectantly.

Shiro chuckled and downed her glass as well.

Kuro waited only long enough for her twin to put the glass out of the way before she pushed her to the ground, her hands already on the lapels of her sister's kimono.

_Ravish me, Kuro. _Shirohime whispered in a sultry voice.

_As you command,_ Kurohime replied dutifully as she ripped her mate's robe open.

* * *

Not every member of the Expedition was celebrating however, for some were still on duty. One such individual was Hermóðr as he commanded a small group of ships as they patrolled along the border of the Wraith containment zone. However, with long range sensors confirming that there were no Wraith anywhere even near the perimeter of the zone, he was allowing himself some leeway.

Whilst reading the latest scientific research conducted by the Earth scientists on the theoretical de-extinction of certain prehistoric and recently extinct lifeforms, the Asgard was also running a live feed of the coverage surrounding the upcoming first Asgard birth in thousands of years. Unfortunately, the Asgard did not have anything in the way of news media like their Tau'ri allies did, as such much to Hermóðr's annoyance he had been forced to watch the bland feed that the High Council had set up. Having watched many an Earth news program while serving the Expedition, he'd much rather have them covering the event. They, at least, would know how to hype it up and keep the anticipation high.

Not that Hermóðr himself needed help in that regard. Nor, he figured, did many of his kin. This birth could mean the future of their species! Of course, every single Asgard was excited beyond words and watching the event like a hawk.

"And we've just received word from the birthing room." The synthesized commentary of the feed said suddenly, pulling Hermóðr away from the fascinating Earth research. "The child has been safely delivered."

The image on the feed suddenly changed to show a distinctly human looking Asgard female, complete with breasts kept from swinging all over the place by a simple band. Next to her stood a male who also shared the very human appearance who wore a garment at his groin that kept his reproductive organs out of the way. Both were, according to the reports Hermóðr had read, volunteers who had transferred over to these prototype clone bodies derived from Heimdall's successful research especially to attempt and test their capability for natural reproduction. As marvelous as that was, the little pink child that was placed in its mother's hands by a more conventional looking Asgard a moment later instantly caught Hermóðr's full attention. It looked like a miniature version of its father, complete with a garment that hid its external primary sexual characteristics making it impossible to determine its gender. Whatever it was, it was perfect. Absolutely perfect.

"The child is a male," the feed's commentary announced. "And his parents have chosen to name him Vanir in commemoration of our misguided cousins who couldn't live to see this momentous occasion."

Hermóðr was stunned by the thoughtfulness, especially after all the evil the Vanir had done. Despite that though, they were still kin and this was indeed a great gesture. One that he was sure that the Vanir would deeply appreciate if they were aware.

* * *

Hermóðr might have missed the various celebrations _Altantis _and the Expedition had thrown to celebrate the end of the Pegasus War but in the days to come, many among the Expedition would consider him and others in his position enviable. Case in point were Wrex, Ronon and Teyla, who whilst still suffering the aftereffects of days of partying had to conduct a basic outdoor survival training program for a batch of new troops rotated in from the Milky Way in the wilderness of the Lantean mainland.

"Argh. My head is still killing me." Wrex complained as they sat down around a campfire after the first day of the program.

"It's been all day, surely the hangover has subsided by now?" Teyla asked, sounding concerned. "Maybe you should go see a doctor?"

"Nah," Wrex said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "It's just sleep exhaustion. I'll take last shift of watch tonight. That should give me enough hours to be fine tomorrow."

"You shouldn't have partied so hard." Ronon told him bluntly, as he handed Wrex a stick of cooked meat. "You go sleep after this. Teyla and I will split your watch."

"You guys sure?"

"We're sure, Wrex." Teyla assured him. "We'll need you in top condition tomorrow if we're going to whip these soldiers into shape."

"I'm not sure we'll manage that even with Wrex at a hundred percent." Ronon said with a snort. "None of them have made the cut, as the Tau'ri say it, to join my trackers program."

"You have too high standards," Teyla told him as she picked up her own stick of meat from where they'd been cooking them over the fire.

"Better to have high standards than poor trackers." Wrex countered.

"Better to have poor trackers than no trackers at all."

"Teyla's right there." Ronon grunted. "I'll take the best of them and no matter their skill level, I'll make them into the best trackers in three galaxies."

"If anyone can do it, Ronon, it's you."

"Agreed," Wrex added.

They settled into a comfortable silence as they ate their meal, when they were done though Wrex turned to Teyla.

"So Teyla, how's the family?"

"All is well," she assured the Lacuan. "My relationship with Kanaan is happy and Torren is growing up healthy and strong."

"That's good to hear," Wrex said with a smile. "So Ronon, anything _you _want to share? I heard you've started seeing that Control Room technician from _Atlantis_, Amelia was it?"

"Yes," Ronon said with a grunt. "And it's going well. Not that it's any of _your _business."

"Ronon," Teyla chided her teammate lightly.

"What? I don't see why he's even asking."

"Just some friendly banter is all," Wrex says placatingly.

"What about you though, Wrex, anything new in your life?" Teyla said redirecting the conversation.

"Not in my own at least," Wrex admitted with a sigh. "Unless you count helping Terence and my sister organise their wedding."

* * *

Just like Wrex and company who had gotten back to work after the celebrations, the Lantean Hive Queens likewise had returned to their duties. In their case this meant standing aboard their flagship the _Douter_-class _Go-Sakuramachi_ and watching as their mothers' Hiveship, the _Elizabeth_ exited hyperspace over the planet designated M35-117 by the Expedition.

After surveying by the Lantea Hive, this world was selected as the homeworld for the second Chiropteran Hive in the Pegasus. Shirohime and Kurohime did not know which of their sisters would have the honor of being its Queens though because their mothers, mainly Diva, thought it would be fun to keep them in suspense.

"Mothers, welcome to the Pegasus," the Lantean Hive Queens greeted, bowing in unison as the image of the Swarm Queens appeared on the primary viewscreen of the _Go-Sakuramachi_'s bridge.

"It is a pleasure to be here at last," Saya-okaasan said offering them a smile as they both straightened.

As they did, they noticed that their sisters Nhlakanipho and Ingqondo were standing next to their mothers. Their younger sisters were young woman with beautiful almond skin. Ingqondo was dressed in a shirt and slacks outfit with a very boyish cut complemented by a very masculinely short hairstyle while Nhlakanipho had chosen a far more feminine look in the form of a black lace formal evening dress and long ebony hair that flowed down her back.

They were one of the half dozen younger Hive Queen pairs that had yet to leave the Swarm Queens' protection. At just a little over a year old and thus barely adults even by the standards of their fast maturing race, they had been born through the absorption of genetic material their mothers had obtained from territories formerly firmly in the hands of the Goa'uld. Nhlakanipho and Ingqondo in particular had been born from the assimilation of the genes of the deceased System Lord Olokun's former subjects.

"So Ipho and Ing are the Queens of the new Hive?"

"Yes, Kuro." The seemingly ever naked Diva-okaasan said with a playful smirk. "Surprised?"

"I certainly am," Shiro said with a frown. "It is surprising that you would send a pair of our youngest sisters to the Pegasus, Diva-okaasan. It was until only recently a war zone. Wouldn't it be safer for them to set up their Hive somewhere deep in Swarm space?"

"The Pegasus is pacified is it not?" Saya-okaasan, dressed in a fashionable white long sleeve blouse paired with a blue wrap mini skirt, countered.

Both Lantean Queens nodded.

"Then that makes it inherently safer than the Milky Way where we live in constant threat from the Goa'uld Remnant."

"Besides spreading our Hives, both young and mature, between the two galaxies is a good hedge against disaster. Don't you agree?" Diva-okaasan added.

"I suppose you're correct on both counts." Shiro allowed, bowing her head. "I apologise for being so presumptuous as to doubt your logic, Mothers."

"It's fine, it's fine." Diva-okaasan waved away with a grin.

"Now, if you have no more questions why don't you properly greet your sisters."

"Of course," Kuro said with a quick look at Shiro.

"Apologies for the delay, Ipho, Ing," both Lantean Queens said together. "Welcome to the Pegasus galaxy."

"Thank you, sisters." The two younger Queens replied.

"Actually, I do have another question." Kuro said suddenly, a thoughtful expression on her face. "Mothers, are you deliberately choosing Hives from diverse genetic origins for Hives in the Pegasus? First, it was our Hive with its infusion of East Asian DNA and now there's Ipho and Ing's Hive with its African DNA?"

"Kuro!" Shiro chided her twin. How could she ask such an insensitive and rude question!?

"It's fine," Ing said. "I and Nhlakanipho-"

"Ipho and I," The more feminine of the younger Queens corrected her twin gently.

Ing just nodded at her twin, but otherwise ignored her and kept going. "We were wondering the same thing actually."

"Nothing of the sort!" Diva-okaasan protested, clutching at her breast dramatically as if her daughters' words had hurt her. "Would I do something like that?"

"Yes~!" Everyone, even Saya-okaasan, said in unison.

"Okay, I totally would." Diva-okaasan admitted with a pout. "But I really didn't do anything. Saya made sure of that."

"Yes, I did." Saya-okaasan affirmed. "Which means that Nhlakanipho and Ingqondo's selection is a matter of pure chance. We had a random draw of all the available Hive Queens and their names came up."

"So that everything turned out like Mama Diva wanted?" Nhlakanipho asked softly.

"Yup," Diva-okaasan said with a grin. "It's all a happy coincidence!"

"As much as I find it hard to believe myself, it's true." Saya-okaasan reassured her skeptical daughters.

"You lot still suspect me don't you?" Diva-okaasan cried out, with an exaggerated look of sadness etched on her face. "Hurtful! So very, very hurtful!"

"Ignore your Mama Diva," Saya-okaasan said with a sigh. "Let's get started settling Nhlakanipho and Ingqondo onto their new homeworld shall we?"

This was met with enthusiastic agreement from all the younger Queens and a pout from the blue Swarm Queen.

* * *

A perfect spring day roughly two months after the end of the Pegasus War saw the ruins of Traska on the planet Lacus play host to the long awaited wedding of Terence and Yelana. Held inside a tent set up on land cleared by the Traskan survivors and set up by eager volunteers from the Expedition, the ceremony had been a respectful mix of Terence's Chinese traditions and Yelana's Lacuan rites. Terence had worn the traditional dress of a Lacuan for the occasion, making him look like a Italian nobleman straight out of the Renaissance while Yelana looked exquisite in her cheongsam with its intricate red and gold phoenix design. All in all, the whole affair left many a happy tear in the eyes of the attendees.

Now though, the wedding feast was in full swing and as was customary in both their cultures Terence and Yelana were making the rounds of the tables to thank their guests. The first stop was naturally, the table where his team was seated.

"So we finally get to meet your family at last Larry." Terence teased as he spotted the Filipino's wife and three children. "We've known you for years and the first time I find out how they look is from meeting them in person?"

"You never even showed them a photo?" Larry's wife asked him incredulously.

"Of course I have!"

"Once or twice," Yod allowed. "But he's stingy with talking about home."

"Why?" His wife demanded crossing her arms. "Were you embarrassed of us or something?"

"Uh!?"

His wife suddenly breaks into laughter and hugs her husband. "You're hopeless. So easy to tease."

Even the man's children chuckled at their father's expense.

"You were teasing me?"

"Of course." His wife slapping is arm playfully. "You're probably one of the most private men in the world. I never thought you'd go around bragging about your family.

"You know me too well."

"I _am _your wife."

Yelana shot Terence a look and he didn't need to telepathic to get the message: _I hope we end up like them too._

"We already are," Terence leaned over to whisper in her ear.

"Whispering secrets already? The shame, brother, sister." Wrex teased.

"Oh hush you, Wrex." Yelana scolded, blushing.

Terence just smiled, just basking in the joy of being around his family.

* * *

They couldn't spend _all _their time with his team however and after some more lighthearted chatting, the happy couple had headed over to the table where Beloukas, Kevan and other dignitaries among Lacuan sat.

"On behalf of all of us, congratulations Major, Yelena." Beloukas said with a gracious bow.

"Indeed, congratulations." Kevan said patting Terence on the back.

"Uh, not to be rude. We do appreciate you being here but Guildmaster aren't you busy with all the ongoing negotiations? How is it that you managed to make it?" Yelana asked, blinking in confusion at the sight of her employer.

"Oh don't be silly." The diminutive, mustachioed man said with a chuckle. "There was no way, important negotiations or not, that I was missing the marriage of a daughter of Traska, one of my employees no less, to one of the Atlantean heroes."

The couple, Terence especially, blushed at the praise.

"Thank you, Beloukas." Terence said. "We really do appreciate you taking time out to come join us today."

Beloukas just smiled, making him look a tinge creepy. Then again he tended to be like that most of the time so what was nothing new.

"So any plans for now?" Kevan asked, moving the conversation along.

"Not much," Terence said with a shrug. "After this it's our honeymoon then some downtime. We'll take that time to think of something, I guess. Though there is one long term goal we have in mind."

"Oh? What is it?" Beloukas asked. "Maybe we can help you with that."

Terence shared a look with his wife and nodded upon receiving her nod.

"Well, we were thinking of settling here on Lacus. Traska specifically." Terence told the table. "And help them both rebuild."

"T-That's a splendid idea." Kevan said, choking on some air. "You have my full support."

"Mine too!" Beloukas agreed happily. "Anything you need, just ask. If it's within my power, I'll get it for you."

"Thank you Guildmaster, Commander." Yelana said, speaking for the both of them. "You don't know how much we appreciate that."

* * *

Some time and a few other tables later, the couple finally arrived at the table occupied by the Expedition senior staff. Most of them couldn't make it due to prior engagements - some more pressing than others - but Dr. Gardner, Dr. McKay and his family, Ronon, Dr. Carson and his date, Lieutenant Cadman, were there. Dr. Gardner had been a surprise since she'd taken leave at the end of the war - only the second time she took _any _leave - and had gone back to Earth to get married to Dr. Jackson, who she'd brought back with her.

"Doctors Jackson," Terence addressed the other newly married couple teasingly. "Shouldn't you two be on your honeymoon?"

"I don't believe anyone ever said that honeymooners couldn't attend a friend's wedding, Major." Dr. Gardner replied with a smile. "Congratulations by the way. Both of you."

A chorus of congratulations came from the table then, starting with Dr. Jackson and doing a round of its other occupants.

"Thank you, everyone." Yelana said graciously. "It's a pleasure to have all of you with us on this special day. Doctors Jackson, we're really sorry we couldn't attend your wedding."

"It's not a problem." Dr. Jackson said with a shrug. "We know the two of you were busy organizing your own. Besides, ours was a rather spontaneous affair."

"That's an understatement," Dr. Gardner said with a shake of her head. "Who'd have thought Nimue would just pop in like that and demand we get married on the spot."

"Jack." Dr. Jackson said with a chuckle. "He warned me she was getting impatient with us not setting a date."

"Still~!"

"That sounds very romantic to be honest," Miss Pero said. "A higher Being presiding at your wedding? That's something I can only dream of."

"I prefer this wedding." Her daughter Francine said with a pout. "It's pretty. Doctors Jackson's just sounds boring."

"Francine!" Dr. McKay scolded his daughter.

"It's just the truth Father. By the way, what kind of wedding will you and Mother have?"

"Huh?" McKay seemed shocked by the sudden turn of events but quickly recovered. "It'll be ten times more beautiful than this one, no offense Major, Miss Yelana."

"None taken," Terence said, chuckling at the neurotic scientist's boasting.

"We're planning our wedding already?" Miss Pero asked with a teasing smile. "You haven't even proposed. Unless that's your idea of a proposal?"

Dr. McKay frowned at this, before shrugging. "And if it is? Will you marry me?"

Miss Pero shook her head at him in exasperation. An action shared by most of the table, especially the women. Teyla even rolled her eyes at her teammate.

"You're completely unromantic, you know that?"

"That's not a yes or no."

"Oh! Of course I'll marry you, you idiot." The blonde said as he leaned over and pulled her boy- correction, fiancé into a kiss.

"Yay! Mother and Father are getting married!" Francine cheered as she clapped happily. Even little Torren, also in attendance, gurgled his amusement alongside both his parents.

"That must be the worst proposal I've ever seen! Argh! I know McKay is a total unromantic boor. But this is too much." Cadman said with a chuckle that belied her ranting.

"I agree." Carson added. "I've never been in his head and even I can say that."

"I honestly still wonder how he got such a pretty girl."

"Carson~!" Cadman growled warningly.

"What!? I'm taken, not blind."

"Well, at least you know you're taken."

Ronon looks at Carson pointedly

"What?"

"You're going to be his best man," Ronon told him seriously. "I won't. And Sheppard is likely going to be too busy following his wife around for the upcoming negotiations to manage."

"Aye." Carson said with a resigned sigh. "It's going to be a pain."

Cadman smacks him arm. "Don't say that about being your best friend's best man."

"You do realize this is McKay we're talking about, right?" Carson reminds her. "He's likely to be a groomzilla with how neurotic he is."

"Even then," Cadman insists.

"I never said I wouldn't, did I?"

"You better," Ronon said seriously. "Because if it's not you, it's me and I'd be liable to shoot someone by accident if he asked me to do it."

_He would too. _Terence thought, smiling in amusement at the banter.

"Aye, Ronon, I get it. Leave it to me."

* * *

Two months after the wedding festivities on Lacus that had been the talk of Lantea since then - so much so that tales of it had reached even into the stuffy meetings that Sisenna and his fellow Pegasus leaders had been shut up in - the lengthy negotiations were finally concluded and they were all ready to sign the documents that would formalize the agreement that they'd crafted. It was to this effect that he stood alongside Lady Protector Mara, Teyla Emmagan, Guildmaster Beloukas and literally hundreds of other leaders from both the Pegasus and Earth as they took turns signing the founding documents for the formal creation of the Tau'ri Alliance at the Coalition Headquarters in Tokyo.

When Sisenna had joined the Native Corps he'd never expected to be in this position but after the war, Chancellor Lycus who had led his people since before the destruction of their homeworld had stepped down and much to Sisenna's shock he was asked to replace him. He'd wanted to refuse. What did a military man know about leading his people in peacetime? But his people's decision was firm. He'd led them to honour by being the highest ranking and most decorated Taranian officer in the Corps and they wanted to reward him for that, plus tap the leadership skills he had demonstrated during the war. Faced with that, he'd reluctantly agreed and became their new Chancellor.

As his turn was announced and he rose from his seat to add his signature to the documents, Sisenna reflected on the intent of the Alliance. It was designed in no small part simply as an instrument to give weaker or outright unrepresented members of the Coalition a proper voice in the organization. Alone, they were easily overshadowed by the superpowers like Albion and the Swarm or even the so-called middle powers like the Cylon Collective but by forming the Alliance, the disparate lesser powers that were its constituents would be able to consolidate their resources into a force that was a match for _any _power. They would thus become a true equal to the greats of the Coalition.

_And such an organization must bear a name that reflects that greatness and what better name than that of the Tau'ri?_

Despite the humble objections of the Tau'ri themselves, there was no doubt in the minds of any of the Alliance's members that they'd made the right choice. No one else but the Earth's people deserved the honour, not after the historic and continuing role of Earth's people as the champions of the minor races.

Finished with putting his signature to the document, Chancellor Sisenna returned to his seat and waited for the ceremony to end. It took another thirty minutes or so, but shortly after the last signature was added Dr. Weir, the event's Master of Ceremonies, stepped forward to the podium and addressed the crowd.

"Leaders of the Coalition, people across the Milky Way and Pegasus galaxies," the woman said with the kind of charismatic voice of someone who had done great things. "With these three hundred and eight two signatures, I conclude this ceremony and formally declare the formation of the Tau'ri Alliance!"

At this the entire hall erupted in cheers, including Sisenna's own.

_And so a new era begins._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done!
> 
> There it is folks, that's the last story in this series.
> 
> Yes, I gave Sheppard a harem. Though strictly speaking Flora would be Mara's second consort since that's the most politically expedient way to spin it. It's not even particularly untrue. ;) Why the harem though? Well, in my book if you create an overly flirtatious character then either you go all in and have a harem or have the character break many hearts. Since I like Sheppard, I went with the former.
> 
> About the wedding between Terence and Yelana, I had actually considered writing out the ceremony but I didn't want to create a ceremony out of whole cloth or drag out the already long chapter, so I decided to just jump straight to the reception instead. So apologies for those looking forward to it.
> 
> Also at the wedding we see that McKay not only got the girl but also the kid? Well, he deserved it. After the crap he's been through he really deserves a chance at happiness, and what greater happiness is there than a happy family?
> 
> In the same scene, we also see Carson is still with Cadman in this verse. Considering it's the only long term relationship we see in canon, I thought letting it succeed in this verse was a nice nod. Why the divergence? Well, in canon the relationship fell apart because they returned to Earth where they likely had deployments that made it hard on them to be together. In this verse, with no being kicked back to Earth by idiot Lanteans to cause their separation, they managed to keep trucking along just fine.
> 
> Any thoughts on the Tau'ri Alliance? As said in the chapter, it's mainly an attempt by the minor powers to balance out the influence of the superpowers within the Coalition and give themselves more of a voice. Do you think this is a smart move for the minor powers to take? Please do let me know.
> 
> Now here's the visual guide for this chapter:
> 
> The Colonial/Cylon Aries = OZ-07AMS Aries from the Gundam franchise
> 
> So that's it for this story. It's been a fun ride to write and hopefully to read as well. There'll be some interludes after this and new additions to Sidestories as inspired by this particular this story. Fingers crossed some of you will go read those too.
> 
> Till then, zbogom!


	36. Interlude: The Wraith Hives and the Asuran Protectorate

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of the IPs from which any imported elements may originate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Pegasus War**

**Interlude: The Wraith Hives and the Asuran Protectorate **

**Beta: **

* * *

Hi all,

As some of you in the know _may _know, the Pegasus War has just ended in a decisive victory for the Atlantis Expedition and the Coalition! Hooray!

Now I know some people will go "But Hermione there's not been an official announcement yet." I know that! But I have it on good authority, my best friend Mother Empress Nimue, that all there's left doing is mop up. So I'm totally calling it! The war is over! Pop the champagne everyone!

(Edit: Yes, it's over. We won. Please do go celebrate. - Mother Empress Nimue)

Anyways~! Rubbing my scoop in people's faces aside, I'm going to take this opportunity to give you a run down of the two belligerents that had been giving the brave Expedition so much trouble.

(Edit 2: I've updated the info here to reflect some of the postwar changes to the two polities, so this _is_ in face up to date.)

**The Wraith Hives**

**The Wraith species (Expand)**

**Organization (Collapse)**

The Wraith organize themselves into Hives usually based on a Hive ship. Typically each Hive is ruled by a single Queen selected through a process of continuous, murderous competition by the Hive's females. Sometimes however circumstances will be such that there are no adult females in the Hive and it is at this point that a Commander may seize control of the Hive.

On a broader scale, multiple Hives form into factions called Hive alliances. Each of which is led by the leader of its most influential, and usually most powerful, Hive. This is typically a Queen but as the famous Wraith Commander 'Todd'/Guide proves they can fill the role as well.

Above the Hive alliances, the Wraith used to work together as a united race based on mutual necessity. Faced with powerful enemies such as the Asurans and Lanteans, anything less would have been suicide. However, when faced with the pressure put on them by repeated Expedition victories, this unity fractured and the Wraith entered into a state of civil war which lasted till the end of the Pegasus War.

**History**

**Early History and the Lantean-Wraith War (Expand)**

**The Asuran-Wraith War (Collapse)**

Shortly after the Wraith defeated the Lanteans and drove them to flee back to Earth via the _Atlantis _Stargate, they found themselves beset by a new enemy. At first the Wraith thought that these were Lantean remnants thanks to the superficial similarities between the Asurans and their creators, but swiftly discovered to their dismay that the Asurans were in fact a race of synthetics. The war that followed was long and grueling, pushing the Wraith to lengths the Lanteans never did.

Where against the Lanteans, the Wraith could use endless waves of cloned warriors and ships to overwhelm even the most powerful forces through sheer weight of numbers thus slowly whittling down the limited population of the Ancients, such tactics were useless against the Asurans. The Replicators while never great in number could not truly be killed. Each time a Wraith killed an individual Asuran in battle, it would be simply restored elsewhere from its stored backup within their shared subspace network. This was _not _helped by the gradual but ever growing numbers of individual Replicators. Without access to their only real advantage, the Wraith soon found themselves put on the defensive by the Asurans' inexhaustible numbers and more advanced technology.

They responded to this by dispensing with hunting their human livestock and instead switching to outright industrial scale 'farming' of humans as food. Though they retained some hunting preserves as a matter of pride allowing some human cultures to remain largely free. With this greater supply of food, the Wraith were able to support even larger armies thus allowing them to expand their production of clones. With these measures they managed to turn the tide of the war. At least somewhat.

They never managed anything resembling victory, but with their now vastly expanded forces they fought the Asurans to a stalemate. One that lasted for thousands of years until the arrival of the Atlantis Expedition.

**The Pegasus War (Expand)**

**Post-war Situation (Collapse)**

In the wake of their defeat in the Pegasus War, the Wraith Hives have been reduced to a pale shadow of its former glory. Once, at its height after the defeat of the Lanteans, they ruled the entire galaxy uncontested until the appearance of the Asurans. Now however all that survives is a single Hive alliance restricted to a handful of worlds and with a cap on the size of its forces. Their human slaves/livestock have also all been taken away from them, though this is less of a problem now that they've been forced to receive the Expedition engineered retrovirus that eliminates their ability to feed on life force and reactivates their ability to digest conventional food.

The Perseus Treaty which ended the war ensures that at the very least the former conditions will persist for the next century on the threat of annihilation by the Coalition. Not that it matters as all estimates indicates that the Wraith are unlikely to recover enough to breach the treaty's limits for the next century and a half at the minimum.

Will the Wraith of that time be able to join the rest of the known universe as a contributing member of the community of sapient races? Or will they return to being the threats they were? That is something that only time will tell.

**The Asuran Protectorate**

**The Asuran race (Expand)**

**Organization (Collapse)**

The Protectorate is the name given by scholars for the system by which the Asurans extracted what they wanted from their human vassals. It should be noted that the Asurans and their human vassals themselves never gave their arrangement any proper name.

The system operated as such: in exchange for technological assistance to maintain a certain standard of living and protection from the Wraith, the Asurans would demand foot soldiers and whatever other resources they wanted from their human vassals. This was a necessity for the Replicators as the Wraith's shift to total war threatened to turn the tide of their war. Needing cannon fodder to bolster their comparatively limited armies, the Asurans turned to the humans which they had earlier either eradicated to deny them to the Wraith or ignored.

Some would argue that this was an outcome that was preferential to the fate that awaited any human civilization caught in the crosshairs of the Wraith and that cannot be denied. It was why so many of the Pegasus' greatest human states chose to collaborate with the Asurans and become part of the Protectorate. However, this was not as much of a choice as a demand. Refusal or any opposition whatsoever was met with destruction. So were any humans that might be of help to the Wraith such as worlds they might go to resupply through a culling or heavily populated worlds that might become targets of conversion by the Wraith into 'farm' worlds. As a result of this, the Asurans and their collaborators became responsible for the destruction of many, many human worlds.

**History**

**Early History and the Asuran-Wraith War (Expand)**

**The Pegasus War (Expand)**

**Post-war Situation (Collapse)**

Unlike the Wraith Hives, there is no post war rump Asuran Protectorate. The conclusion of the Pegasus War saw the complete end of the Asuran race either by transference of their minds into human bodies and subsequent assimilation into Coalition member polities or exile in the Cloister (_For my post on what's the Cloister, click here_). As for their collaborators, they were tried in the Crossroads Trails and found guilty for a host of heinous crimes, leading to them being sentenced to a series of strict sanctions (_The full list of which can be found here_).

Considering all the genocide the Asurans got up to, I for one am glad that they're gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done!
> 
> Hope you guys liked this little look into the inner workings of the Wraith and Asurans in the WoLverse.
> 
> Till next time, apochairetismós!


	37. Mecha Profiles - The Wraith

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of the IPs from which any imported elements may originate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Pegasus War**

**Interlude: Mecha Profiles - The Wraith**

**Beta: **

* * *

Hello my beloved readers,

For today and the next few posts, we'll be covering the profiles of some of the mecha of the Pegasus War. Since this is not my forte, I'll be having a special guest handle most of it. Lt. Colonel Terence Tan of the Singapore Armed Forces and member of the Atlantis Expedition! While he was no Mobile Suit pilot, he is a prominent member of the Expedition and have spoken to many of its pilots. He is furthermore compiling their experiences, alongside those of other Expedition members, into a book about the Pegasus War. He is thus uniquely qualified to introduce to the unique Mobile Weapons of the war.

**Wraith Mecha Profiles**

**Introduction**

Thanks for inviting me to do this Hermione, I'll try my best not to disappoint you or your readers and provide them with as much insight I have into the mecha of the Pegasus War. Since there are _a lot_ of mecha to cover, I'll be splitting this into a short three part series. So with those explanations out of the way let's get started.

**Dart (Expand)**

**Hunter (Collapse)**

Originally called the Crab Suit by their Wraith creators, they eventually switched over to using the Expedition designation simply because it was more intimidating. The Wraith can't name things for nuts apparently.

The Hunter is a crab like Mobile Armor with a single glowing optic, a pair of short clawed arms and a single pair of vaguely humanoid legs with a single long claw for a foot. It is armed with two top-mounted Plasma Cannons. It was engineered from some kind of crustacean, hence its appearance.

This biomecha is actually an intermediate stage for the Enforcer but which the Wraith decided to keep as its own mecha because it is far more cost effective to produce. As a result of this, its arms and legs are underdeveloped. Despite this however they were occasionally still used in melee combat. Like all Wraith machines it relied on their unique regenerating ablative bioarmor, however perhaps due to its origins as a crustacean this armor was particularly thick though this was not very helpful as the Hunter's armor was considered quite brittle, even by Wraith standards, and was relatively slow to regenerate. Variants fielded by the Fiends of the Lantean Chiropteran Hives boast shields and the addition of external hard points on which additional armament could be equipped.

Generally, not a particular effective Mobile Armor especially in comparison to those used by the Expedition, the Wraith deployed them in such numbers that easily made up for their deficiencies. A common complaint of the pilots who faced them was that there was no end to them, which while not a problem for the feeble Darts was a significantly bigger problem for the much deadlier Hunters.

**Enforcer (Collapse)**

Originally called the Commander's Suit by their Wraith creators, they eventually switched over to using the Expedition designation for much the same reasons as the Hunter.

A Mobile Suit with a vaguely insectoid aesthetic to its armor armed with a large heavy particle cannon attached to its right arm, a lighter plasma repeater built into the left arm and a pair of missile pods incorporated into its shoulder. Like all Wraith machines it relied on their unique regenerating ablative bioarmor, though multiple sources noted that the rate of repair of Enforcer's armor was such that damage sustained at the start of a battle could be fully healed by its end. Already a well armed machine, the Fiendish variant of the Enforcer's only substantial addition was that of a shield.

The Enforcer was the final form of the Hunter and the Wraith's answer to Expedition Mobile Suits. It was an extremely difficult and expensive machine to produce, and was thus reserved only for the most capable Wraith commanders.

An extremely fast and powerful machine, the Enforcer was feared by many Expedition pilots and most are thankful that the Wraith were only able to field them in limited numbers.

'**Dragon' (Collapse)**

The 'Dragon' was an insanely fast and agile draconic looking mechanical machine with plasma repeaters in its front claws and a heavy particle cannon built into its tail. It could transform into a Mobile Suit with a crystal built into its chest that was the firing array for fired a beam projector.

Analysis of recovered wreckage shows that it is actually a techno-organic machine with an admittedly minimalist organic body with extensive cybernetics including an armored exoskeleton that gave it a purely mechanical outward appearance

The machine was a secret weapon developed by a Wraith Hive alliance with access to Asuran technology that only saw deployment in their last gasp in the waning days of the Pegasus War. With the Hive alliance that developed it destroyed, there isn't much data on this machine to go on at all. Even the name its creators used to call it is lost, leaving us only able to refer to it by the codename the Expedition gave it

Even though it only made an appearance in one battle, this deadly machine earned itself a fearsome reputation. Among those who have faced it and survived, it is universally regarded as the deadliest mecha ever fielded by the Expedition's enemies during the entire Pegasus War. An honour well deserved considering it possesses the highest kill ratio of any enemy machine recorded in the war.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done!
> 
> Hope you guys like this look into the mecha of the Pegasus War. This series is actually designed as a way for me to infodump some extra details about the mecha I came up with but couldn't fit into the actual story.
> 
> Visual guide:
> 
> Hunter = Invid Fighter Scout from the Robotech franchise
> 
> Enforcer = Invid Commander from the Robotech franchise
> 
> 'Dragon' = the ovv-f Gafran from the Gundam franchise
> 
> Till next time, rutukama!


	38. Mecha Profiles - The Asurans

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of the IPs from which any imported elements may originate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Pegasus War**

**Interlude: Mecha Profiles - The Asurans**

**Beta: **

* * *

Hello everyone,

Today we will be continuing our series on the various mecha of the Pegasus War by discussing the Asuran war machines, so without further ado Colonel Tan please!

**Asuran Mecha Profiles**

**Introduction**

Thank you, Hermione. Like the lady said let's just get started shall we?

**Minerva (Collapse)**

Called the Clavis by the Asurans (translates to 'key' in English) for its ability to fit through the Stargate like a keyhole and for the association they gave keys to their revered Creator Janus as a symbol of his power. It was given the designation Minerva by the Expedition.

The Minerva is a small Mobile Armor shaped vaguely like an insect or crab complete with a pair of wings raised in a v-shape from their abdomen, with a pair of prominent barrels for its beam cannons jutting out from either side of its head and an underslung set of rotary plasma cannons.

Originally designed by the Asurans to counter Wraith Darts, it proved effective in this role for thousands of years despite the lack of shields and relatively thin armor thanks to the weak firepower of Dart weapons and its own impressive arsenal. The combination allowing it to reap a deadly toll on Wraith Dart formations while being cheap to produce. However, they were refitted with shields shortly after the start of the Pegasus War due to the need to face more powerful Expedition strike craft.

They, like Wraith Darts, were generally considered pests by the Expedition pilots. Though vastly more formidable than Wraith Darts, they operated in much smaller numbers and so remained roughly equivalent in their level of threat to their Wraith counterparts. When confronted with large formations however, they were indeed quite dangerous.

**Vulcan (Collapse)**

Called the Eques by the Asurans (translated to 'knight' in English) as it fit the motif or an armored high mobility combat unit, it was given the designation Vulcan by the Expedition.

The Vulcan was a sleek humanoid Mobile Suit with a purple crystal built into its chest. These machines were incredibly agile and were capable of maneuvers that other machines struggle to emulate. They also boasted shields from the onset which made them a stark improvement over the Minervas.

Unlike most other enemy Mobile Suits, Vulcans were equipped with a variety of handheld weapons but their pilots seemed to favour a lance with a built-in plasma repeater out of a strange preference for seeking melee combat. This was often paired with a physical shield with twin built in drone launchers. However, it was not unheard of to see them enter the battlefield with a heavy particle cannon or some other armament. This made any engagement with Vulcans different as Expedition pilots had to take into account what weaponry the enemy was using. Though, I'm told this was less of an issue as it could be due to the Asurans' above stated preferred armaments, it was however still something Expedition pilots had to consider nonetheless.

**Monstrum (Collapse)**

This machine's name translates to 'monster' in English and it is a well deserved name indeed.

A large machine roughly the size of a Al'kesh shaped like a large flying wing with a pair of claws sticking out from its front on either side of its head. It can transform into a giant Mobile Suit with disproportionately large arms that had small stubs of its wings attached to its large oversized upper arms and massive claws. It was armed with a variable number of powerful particle cannons (usually two), Drones and even Funnels.

Developed as part of an Asuran secret project, one so secret in fact that the Monstrum was unknown to even the Asurans who'd defected to the Expeditions after the death of Janus. We only found out the machine's name when examining recovered records after the war.

It only saw deployment in the last gasp defence of Asuras and later in small numbers during the mop up operations against the Asuran holdouts in the waning days of the Pegasus War. Despite this it nevertheless earned itself quite the reputation having amassed a high kill ratio just slightly behind the Wraith's dreaded 'Dragon'.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done!
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this expanded look at the Asuran mecha.
> 
> Visual Guide:
> 
> Minerva = the TS-MB1B Euclid from the Gundam franchise
> 
> Vulcan = the GNX-803T GN-XIV from the Gundam franchise
> 
> Monstrum = the GNMA-0001V Regnant from the Gundam franchise
> 
> Till next time, totazke!


	39. Mecha Profiles - The Expedition

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of the IPs from which any imported elements may originate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Pegasus War**

**Interlude: Mecha Profiles - The Expedition**

**Beta: **

* * *

Hi folks,

Here's the last part of the series of the mecha of the Pegasus War. By the view counts, you guys are really enjoying it huh? Well, thanks for that. Taking this into consideration I just might do more series like this in the future. But that's for another day. For now, Colonel Tan take it away!

**Atlantis Expedition Mecha Profiles**

**Introduction**

Thanks as always Hermione!

So this will be the most lengthy of my entries in this series, I hope everyone is prepared for it. That said I have decided to make things a little easier on you guys. Since everyone is pretty familiar with the machines of the Milky Way wars up till the Ori War, such as the Rifleman and Tieren, I won't be going over those here (_For profiles on them, check out MechaVault's excellent work here_). Instead, I'll focus on the machines that they haven't covered yet (the Badb) or which made their debuts in the Pegasus War. So without any more time wasting, let's get into those profiles!

**General Model/"GM" (Collapse)**

The General Model Mobile Suit, or simply the GM, is the mainstay Mobile Suit of the Tau'ri space forces. It possesses a sleeker frame than either the Albionian Rifleman or the Jade Tieren and has a single long strip over the sensor array built into its head unlike the single tracking optic of its counterparts. Its head also features a v-shaped set of antenna built into the forehead that further sets it apart from other Mobile Suits.

As a mainstay Mobile Suit, the GM was designed for versatility in mind. Hence, it is a jack of all trades and master of none. To mitigate this, it can be equipped with a series of Striker Packs. These are specially designed auxiliary armament units which attach to hardpoints on the Suit's back that carry various loadouts which allow it to take on a number of different roles.

Here is a non-exhaustive list of Strike Packs:

The Blaze Striker Pack: A backpack equipped with high-powered thrusters designed to enhance the GM's mobility and maneuverability in both space and the atmosphere. It also includes two Firebee missile pods.

The Launcher Striker Pack: This Striker Pack was designed for long-range assault, and is equipped with a "Agni" 320mm Light Positron Cannon and a combo weapons pod, which contain a 120mm anti-ship Vulcan Gun and two 350mm plasma mortars.

Oracle Strike Pack: A Command, Control, and Communication (C3) Striker Pack consisting of a large antenna-laden backpack, and a large shoulder-mounted parabolic dish antenna. The powerful systems built into the Pack gives the GM on which it is equipped the sensor and communications capabilities equivalent to a warship's normal array.

Integrated Weapons Striker Pack: It combines the primary characteristics of the Blaze and Launcher Striker Packs into a single set of equipment. As such it is very heavy and very powerful, but very energy intensive and difficult to use. It was thus reserved only for commanders and aces. It has two 115mm rail guns, two 105mm plasma cannons, two Firebee missile pods and a combined shield that is armed with a 30mm six-barrel plasma Gatling.

Other Striker Packs exist though their rarity means I've omitted them for brevity's sake and kitbashes incorporating elements from one or more Packs also exist. The former are designed for extremely specific roles, such as a rumored Striker Pack equipped with a cloak generator, and thus see infrequent use. The latter are more common but follow no fixed template so attempting to list them all here would be an exercise in futility. Apologies for those of you who are curious, I can only do so much. If you're really interested, I recommend doing your own research.

In regards to the capabilities of the GM, generally speaking opinions are mixed. While there are some who consider the machine excellent for its versatility, especially thanks to its Striker Packs, there are equally as many who call them little more than fodder. My own personal opinion leans more towards the former. The GMs are undeniably fodder, their unspectacular kill ratios is proof of this but they are very effective fodder. If given the right equipment and deployed to the right task, the GM is a remarkably effective machine.

**Whitestar (Collapse)**

The Whitestar is a heavily shielded unit designed by Boeing to quickly enter a combat zone and be the lynchpin in securing it with its impressive firepower. In practice, while formidable it rarely succeeded to live up to its initial design goal and instead took on the role of heavy fire support in strike craft formations.

The Mobile Armor had two modes. The first was its Cruise Mode where it looked like a bullet shaped vehicle roughly the size of an Al'kesh with a set of six thrusters in a ring at its rear and a bank of plasma torpedo tubes recessed into its port and starboard armor just ahead of its engine assembly. In this mode, it was capable of impressive speed and maneuverability that allowed it to enter and exit combat with ease.

Its second mode was its Combat Mode wherein the Whitestar's nose section split open into five sections in a star like shape and the Mobile Armor gained access to its primary armaments including a spinal Positron Cannon and a host of smaller Plasma Repeaters spread across its various sections. In this mode, it sacrificed much of its speed by diverting a large portion of the power dedicated to it in Cruise Mode to its newly revealed weapons.

Although, the Whitestar never lived up to the role for which it was originally designed to fill, it nevertheless was a highly effective machine. Throughout its deployment in the Pegasus War, it functioned as the anchor for many an Expedition Mobile Suit formation with its firepower allowing them to punch well above their weight class.

**MiG MS-1 Orel (Collapse)**

Originally designed by the Russians as an alternative to the GM that was being developed by a consortium of defense manufacturers from a number of Homeworld Command member states led by America's Lockheed Martin, the Orel followed a radically different approach to its design when compared with its rival. Where the GM is designed to be an all purpose machine that through the use of its Striker Packs can be equipped for various roles, the Orel is designed to excel in one role above all others: being an excellent interceptor. This is evident in how its performance, especially in Flight Mode, is superior in regards to strike craft combat to those of its competitors, even other interceptors.

As a result of this, despite losing out to the GM in the competition to become Homeworld Comman's mainstay Mobile Suit, the Orel was nevertheless inducted into its strike craft fleet as an interceptor.

In its Mobile Suit Mode, the Orel has a sleek, slender appearance with its wings transforming into thin arms, stifle-jointed legs, and a face that was dominated by a single large visor. This sleekness carried over to its Flight Mode where it became a fighter with forward-swept wings and its main weapon mounted over its head giving a long, narrow profile for its nose.

Arguably the most successful of the Tau'ri mecha deployed in the Pegasus War, the Orel was widely regarded as the best interceptor available to the Expedition. Having seen a flight of these birds shoot down a squadron of Wraith Hunters and Enforcers while on a mission once, I've got to agree. The Orels didn't even take a single hit even as they tore the eight Hunters and their two Enforcer commanders apart. It was a breathtaking sight.

The Orel is far and away the best mecha Earth has produced thus far.

**Rifleman II (Collapse)**

This Albionain Mobile Suit is a more streamlined version of its predecessor, the Rifleman, which transitioned from a knightly aesthetic to one more akin to a soldier. It boasts superior maneuverability from an improved reactionless engine system that is further supplemented with the introduction of reaction thrusters. This in addition to its smaller overall frame makes it a more difficult target for enemies to hit, giving it a sizable advantage over the venerable Rifleman.

It was developed as part of the post-Ori War Strike Craft Diversification Program to serve as Albion's next generation mainline Mobile Suit and has admirably fulfilled the role.

The Rifleman II is a generalist Mobile Suit and it shows, like the GM it is a jack of all trades but master of none. However unlike the GM, its designers obviously knew a lot more about Mobile Suit design. While the Rifleman II is unlikely to surpass specialized Suits in fulfilling their roles, as a man line machine is it is unmatched. With high maneuverability and excellent firepower provided by the wide array of different weapons available to it, it could fight with anything the enemy had to throw at us and have a better than average chance of winning.

The only downside was the small number of them we got. Much has been said about Albion's relative apathy towards the Expedition and its goals elsewhere but let me just say this: If we had another Division or two of Rifleman IIs we'd possibly have won the war months earlier than we actually did.

**Spitfire (Collapse)**

This Albionian heavy assault Mobile Suit has a prominent backpack and large shields built on swivel mounts into its shoulders. It is equipped with an array of heavy weapons, including an array of missile pods integrated into its backpack alongside a pair of small turreted fire-linked plasma repeaters. This is in addition to a powerful handheld Lightning Cannon derived from the same technology behind the Fel'tak's main gun as its primary weapon that looked like a long rifle with two tines from which the weapon's deadly yellow lightning like energy bolt arced between before being fired off at the enemy.

This heavy assault Mobile Suit was like all the machines debuted by Albion in the Pegasus War developed as part of the post-Ori War Strike Craft Diversification Program. As such it takes cues from some of the development of the Rifleman II, such as the inclusion of reaction thrusters to its backpack to increase its mobility. However, it remains relatively slow and lacking in maneuverability when compared to most other Mobile Suits. To overcome this problem, it can however transform into a high speed Flight Mode where its main weapon, shoulder shields and backpack connect to become a large saucer shape, with its legs swinging forward and transforming into claws. This angles the machine's reaction thrusters into optimum position to provide it maximum forward thrust, allowing it to close distances rapidly. This configuration also makes the Spitfire's extensive arsenal forward facing, allowing it to more effectively focus all that firepower should the need arise. It does however still suffer from maneuverability issues.

An excellent machine overall. Like the Rifleman II, just wish we had more of them during the war.

**Hurricane (Collapse)**

The Albionian Hurricane is an arrow shaped machine roughly twice the size of old Goa'uld Death Gliders with a bulbous bulge which contained the cockpit protected under layers of heavy armor. It is probably the smallest vehicle to be considered mecha, it is however surprisingly heavily armed. Its arsenal includes a pair of plasma repeaters built into the Mobile Armor's nose, a two tube Missile Pod built into its dorsal spine and a medium Particle Projector Cannon mounted on the underside of the Hurricane.

It had originally started development in competition with the Rifleman to replace the old, obsolete Goa'uld Death Gliders in the years preceding the Goa'uld Civil War. However, its development was outpaced due to difficulties over power issues that Mobile Suits circumvented by using external weapons with their own power sources arising from a myopic focus among the team to not rely on such. The project was not completely abandoned however, and the Hurricane was ultimately rolled up as a high speed interceptor to complement Albion's Mobile Suit corps as part of the post-Ori War Strike Craft Diversification Program.

Because of its non-humanoid design, the Hurricane requires substantially more training to pilot than a Mobile Suit which thanks to mind-machine interface technology was essentially intuitive. As a result, the majority of its pilots are former Death Glider pilots who are familiar with the handling of such a machine in combat.

The only thing to potentially rival the Orel in effective, the Hurricane was a scary thing to see on the battlefield. As capable of blasting apart strike craft by the dozen as it was tearing capital ships apart, the Hurricane was a terror. We could've used more of them.

**Tieren II (Collapse)**

A more streamlined, more humanoid looking version of its predecessor but which still retained the somewhat blocky aesthetic iconic to its series of machines, the Jade Tieren II was an all round improvement on the Tieren.

Unlike the relatively rushed Tierens which were pushed into service before Jade engineers fully understood the technology and design philosophy behind Mobile Suits so as to face the increasingly bloody battlefields of the Goa'uld Civil War and the wars that followed, the Tieren II is a much more mature design that incorporates a host of performance upgrades over its predecessor.

Despite this however, most of its pilots confess disappointment on the scale of the improvements. In comparison, the Rifleman II enjoyed an average 30% increase in performance over the Rifleman. However, the Tieren II at best chalked up a 10-15% increase over its predecessor. Nevertheless, the sheer number of these machines that Jade provided to the Expedition was staggering. Near the end of the war we had enough Tieren IIs that we were phasing out, with Jade permission, the Tierens in the more elite Native Corps squadrons in lieu of the newer machines.

**Carynx (Collapse)**

This Jade Mobile Armor had a vaguely spherical shape that was roughly the same size as a Al'kesh with a series of protrusions out of its central mass that distorted its profile and a single mono-eyed head recessed just above the circular barrel of the super heavy Mega Particle Projector Cannon the entire machine is built around. Its external surface is studded with various plasma repeater turrets that serve as its point defense and secondary weapons. A slow machine that also lacks maneuverability, the Carynx relies mainly on its powerful shields for its defense.

The Carynx's name comes from a wind instrument used by the Iron Age Celts and the armies of the former Goa'uld System Lord Camulus. Originally developed by him before he joined the Jade Celestial Empire based on his reverse engineering of the unstable Ancient Zero Point Module in his possession, it was part of his efforts to develop a replacement for the aging Al'kesh. In particular, he hoped that by duplicating the superior energy generation and storage capability of the relic he could mount a super heavy weapon on a small frigate sized hull.

However, the complexity of the ZPM proved insurmountable until he joined Jade and partook in the technology exchange between the allies of the Coalition. Particularly the insight offered by the Ascended who returned to the material plane during the Ori War.

Despite finally seeing service, the Carynx would continue to face troubles. Jade commanders unsure to how to use it experimented with a whole host of different deployments, sometimes at great cost. Thankfully, these kinks were quickly ironed out over the course of the war and it has since entered service in the Jade Navy in much the same role as the Tau'ri Whitestar.

**Badb (Collapse)**

A fighter sized Jade Mobile Armor, the Badb resembles a bird-of-prey complete with wings, a largely avain looking head and long legs that end in grasping talons. It is armed with a pair of plasma repeaters built into its legs which function as its primary weapons, as well as a more powerful medium Particle Projector Cannon built into its head.

It is an extremely fast and agile craft, surpassing the capabilities of all other known interceptors in these aspects but pays for it in a relatively weak shield and practically non-existent armor. It is also often used as close air support by Jade commanders during ground combat operations, with them relying on their plasma repeaters to strafe enemy formations. This was discouraged during the Pegasus War however as the Badbs were needed for strike craft interception of the swarms of enemy machines, particularly the Darts of the Wraith, and could not be spared for such ground support duties.

Development on the Badb was originally begun by the former Goa'uld System Lord Morrigan when she was still independent as part of her efforts to develop a next generation strike craft to replace the increasingly outmatched Needle Threaders and Reapers. Its name meaning Crow in Old Irish referencing her sacred animal is a reflection of this history. When she decided to join the Jade Celestial Empire, the unfinished project was completed by its scientists and was finally entered into service near the end of the Ori War.

Although too fragile to truly challenge the Orel for supremacy as top interceptor of the war, the Badb was undeniably the most common strike craft of the type. As such, much of the success of the Expedition can be owed to its efforts at hunting down enemy mecha before they could do the same to our pilots.

**Xūlóng (Collapse)**

This Jade Mobile Armor has a mono-eyed draconic head sitting atop a serpentine body that ended in a tail. It lacked legs instead having an array of thrusters hidden under a skirt of armor where the limbs would be. Nestled between these sheets of armor at its groin is a single heavy Particle Projector Cannon. Its shoulders resembled wings from which hung large shield shaped arms that ended in the barrels for its twin Heavy Staff Cannons. From the small of its back extended an articulated spine that connected to another set of thrusters and a bank of detachable Funnel weapons.

Developed by the Celestial Jade Empire in imitation of the Mobile Armors employed by Albion, the Xūlóng functions in the same role as a heavy weapons platform partially replacing the combat role of the venerable Al'kesh. However, unlike the admittedly more heavily armed but slow, cumbersome Carnyx, the Xūlóng is a highly maneuverable and swift machine that can easily keep up with Tieren II squadrons. It was thus often attached to such squadrons, offering them close range heavy fire support.

**Aries (Collapse)**

The Aries is the first mass production Mobile Suit produced by the Twelve Colonies of Kobol and the Cylon Collective. It is a rudimentary looking Mobile Suit with large thrusters built directly into its frame and looking like oversized pauldrons. It has stubby wings sticking out of its hips with multiple hard points on which to mount weapons. When necessary, it can enter a high speed flight mode where it folds its legs into its thighs, this reduces drag while in atmosphere but more importantly angles its leg mounted thrusters with its those of its main propulsion unit mounted on its back thus giving it more efficient overall thrust.

Having entered service with the Expedition only during the mop up phases of the war there is little to be said of the Aries, however what opinions there are is not complimentary. Generally regarded as a crappy machine by everyone, including its pilots, the Aries squadrons suffered inordinately high losses considering the limited combat they saw.

I really hope its designers go back to the drawing boards and come up with a better design before the Twelve Colonies of Kobol and the Cylon Collective have to fight a real war. Their losses will be disastrous if they don't.

Edit: It seems like the Twelve Colonies of Kobol and the Cylon Collective were of the same opinion as I was. While it's too early to tell, the new Virgo design they unveiled yesterday looks promising.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done!
> 
> Thus ends my experiment on writing mecha profiles. It's been quite successful in my opinion. I had fun and they turned out decent. Do you agree? Let me know.
> 
> Visual Guide:
> 
> GM = the GAT-04 Windam from the Gundam franchise (various Striker Packs are the Striker and Wizard Packs found in the Gundam Seed series)
> 
> Whitestar = based off the MAN-003 Patulia from the Gundam franchise
> 
> MiG MS-1 Orel = the YMS-02 Union Blast from the Gundam franchise
> 
> Rifleman II = the AMS-129 Geara Zulu from the Gundam franchise
> 
> Spitfire = based on the AMX-006 Gaza-D from the Gundam franchise
> 
> Hurricane = based off the MA-06 Val Walo from the Gundam franchise
> 
> Tieren II = the GNX-704T Ahead from the Gundam franchise
> 
> Carynx = the Apsalus II from the Gundam franchise
> 
> Badb = based on the Vandread Meia from the Vandread franchise
> 
> Xūlóng = the AMA-X4 Ahava Azieru from the Gundam franchise
> 
> Aries = the OZ-07AMS Aries from the Gundam franchise
> 
> That's it for this interlude folks, till next time sjáumst!


	40. Interlude: The Tau'ri Alliance

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of the IPs from which any imported elements may originate.**

**The Wars of Legends**

**Pegasus War**

**Interlude: The Tau'ri Alliance**

**Beta: **

* * *

Hi all,

Things have been crazy lately in galacticpolitics hasn't it? And we have the Atlantis Expedition to thank for it. Who'd have thought that events in another galaxy would have such a major effect on our own. Then again, the Replicators, Asgard and Ori were extragalactic too… Yeah, I'll have to retract that previous statement. Anyways, let's get to the real meat of today's post shall we? Without further ado, let's talk about the Tau'ri Alliance.

**The Tau'ri Alliance**

The Tau'ri Alliance is a military, economic and political mutual assistance organization for the minor powers of the Milky Way and Pegasus galaxies. It is essentially a miniature version of the Coalition of Free Peoples for said powers. It is designed with the purpose of providing its members a greater voice, or for some of its less developed members a voice at all, within the Coalition and as a check against the influence of superpowers such as the Albion Stellar Empire and the Chiropteran Swarm.

It was formed after the Coalition's victory in the Pegasus War against the Wraith and Asurans (_for details on this war click here_). In the aftermath of which the many Pegasus nations and tribes chose to organize themselves into some kind of united political body to reflect the bonds they'd forged during the war. The Tau'ri seeing the benefit in such an arrangement proposed they join in this burgeoning organization as well, soon followed by a number of other Milky Way minor powers (_For a full list of current Alliance members click here_). It was through these negotiations that the Alliance was born.

The Alliance is named after the most widely accepted name for Earthlings in the broader known universe, in honor of what its members feel is the outsized contributions they have made to the betterment of its other members and the universe. An honor that sits uneasy with the frankly far too humble Earthlings, but which their partners insisted on bestowing on them.

**Conflict over the Alliance's induction into the Coalition**

The Alliance's formation was not without its problems however. The biggest came from the Coalition. As the Alliance represented a significant voting bloc, tensions arose within the Coalition over whether its voting members were allowed to retain their individual votes in the Coalition General Assembly or the Alliance be granted only one vote. Thankfully after rather tense negotiations, which at one point saw Nimue turn into living lightning in agitation, it was decided that the latter would be the case. While this upset many in the Alliance which wanted at minimum some kind of compromise that gave it more than one vote, they were faced with no less than _unanimous _opposition to such from the non-Alliance members of the Coalition as such the outcome was never in dispute.

This development has spurred calls within the Alliance to move towards full confederation based on the argument that if the Coalition saw them as essentially a single unitary entity then they should become one in fact and not just on paper. These calls are considered fringe at the moment as various Alliance members fiercely cling to their national identities and sovereignty however they _are _growing in strength.

I for one am curious where these calls will lead. Wherever they go, I'll be here to cover them. Here and now, I'd like to wish the Alliance the best of luck in its endeavours. May it live long and prosper!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done!
> 
> That's the interludes for Pegasus War done and with it the final curtain call for this story.
> 
> As previously mentioned there's still a few one shots inspired by this story to be posted in Sidestories though so I hope to see you all there.
> 
> Till then, qapla'!


End file.
